PREVIEW | UAE Tour 2024 - Echelons forecasted; four bunch sprints and GC battle led by UAE's Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty and Jay Vine

Previewing the UAE Tour 2024: Taking place from February 19 to 25, this event spans over 980 km across seven stages. Four stages are tailor-made for sprinters. The second stage features an individual time trial, while stages three and seven (the final day) culminate in mountaintop finishes.

The desert stage. The first part (north-south direction) is approximately 45 km long, on wide and straight roads. After reaching Liwa, the race enters a zone of very steep dunes, which make up most of the stage. A series of climbs and descents leads to the Moreeb Dune, where the race will make two laps of the Moreeb Dune circuit (18.1 km each lap), marked by fairly steep climbs and descents with double-digit gradients. Then it's back to Liwa for the finish. The stage is on wide, straight roads with good pavement.

Stage 2 is an Individual Time Trial that takes place entirely inside Al Hudayriyat Island. The route is very fast and is characterized only by a few right angle bends and two U-turns. The road is perfectly flat, wide and with sweeping curves, which will allow riders to maintain very high speeds (wind permitting).

The first of the two mountain stages of the UAE Tour. The stage is divided into two distinct parts. The first one approaches the final mountain through the desert, while the last one is characterized by approximately 20 km of continuous ascent to the finish. Starting from Al Marjan Island, the route reaches Ras al Khaimah and returns to the desert. After Ras al Khaimah airport, the race heads directly towards Jais Mountain. The final climb is approximately 20 km with a steady 5% gradient, with slightly higher gradients around 7% in the last 2 km.

A stage in Dubai. The first part is in downtown Dubai, passing around the Burj Khalifa before crossing Deira and skirting the Grand Flag. The race will leave the city heading towards the desert, passing by classic sites of these stages such as Al Qudra Cycletrack and the Jumeirah Islands. It then passes through Palm Jumeirah to finish in Dubai Harbour. The entire route runs on very wide and substantially straight roads, interspersed with very large radius traffic circles and well paved.

Starting from Al Aqah to reach Umm Al Quwain, the stage crosses the desert areas on the edge of the Hajar Mountains. Here it covers several stretches of highway until reaching Umm Al Quwain for the final sprint. The entire route is on wide, straight, well-paved roads through the desert.

Stage around the city of Abu Dhabi. Starting from Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first part of the course heads to Saadiyat Island and then to Yas Marina, where the race continues west before re-entering the city through Khalifa City. It returns to Abu Dhabi City and passes over Al Reem Island (Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi) and Al Maryah Island. Passing through Qasr Al Hosn, riders will approach the finish from south to north, finishing at Abu Dhabi Breakwater.

The classic mountain stage of the UAE Tour. In the first part, the route winds through Al Ain, visiting many of its landmarks (Al Ain University, Al Qattara, Al Hili), and then takes a long desert ride to the west until it returns to Green Mubazzarah. Here begins the final ascent of Jebel Hafeet, which with its 10 km section will be the final judge of the race.

UAE Team Emirates - UAE are the team to beat, without a single doubt - as was the case at the Tour of Oman. Adam Yates was victorious there, seemingly comfortably. Even if not in the best form, he is a proven winner in these roads and will be a key contender. The team does however also bring Brandon McNulty who could take over the GC early due to the time-trial and started off the season with great form in Mallorca and a GC win in Valencia; and Jay Vine - a pure climber who should enjoy this type of single-effort mountain stage. Truly, a team that I do not see being beaten.

Jan Hirt - Hirt was second at the recent Tour of Oman. The Green Mountain suited him perfectly; he won't find a climb with the same characteristics in the UAE but the form is certainly there. The Czech rider has free role as Remco Evenepoel is busy in the Algarve. Soudal - Quick-Step also has a lot of experience in the winds and should have him covered. Ilan van Wilder is also a pretty strong contender who can leave a mark here, a podium contender if he finds his best form as was the case in the Autumn Classics last year.

Ben O'Connor - Winner of the Vuelta a Murcia, O'Connor comes in with good form. The Australian can take advantage of the very modest competition, he will certainly be a podium contender and will be seeking important UCI points for Decathlon AG2R.

Pello Bilbao - Leading Bahrain - Victorious will be Pello Bilbao. The ever-consistent Basque climber was third here two years ago and fourth last year. A good all-rounder and strong climber, Bilbao will certainly be among the podium favourites. A sixth place at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana proves that he his not here to just test his form.

Max Poole - DSM will be having Fabio Jakobsen as their main focus for the week, but right after should be the possible GC tilt of Max Poole. The Briton was very impressive last season finishing fourth at the Tour de Romandie. Granted, DSM do not have the team to support him uphill, but honestly that should not be a problem as the two mountain stages are pan-flat until the climb and other teams will take over responsibility.

The fight for the overall classification could vary widely in case crosswinds are felt throughout the week. However judging by the climbing and time-trials we've got a few more contenders. Einer Rubio, last year's winner at Jebel Jais, is one of them. Alongside him we'll find other pure climbers such as Simon Carr and Lennert van Eetvelt who both won at the Mallorca Classics; Harold Tejada or BORA - hansgrohe duo Emanuel Buchmann and Ben Zwiehoff.

On the other side of the spectrum we've got Team Visma | Lease a Bike possibly protecting Attila Valter and Bart Lemmen if the wind blows, and former team rider Tobias Foss now spearheads INEOS Grenadiers and could be an interesting outsider for the race. Eddie Dunbar, a last-minute entry, will also be a podium contender and could certainly perform with the competition we'll have present.

The fast men will, of course, be headliners this week. In the absence of many GC riders specially, the sprinters will take over many of the microphones. The likes of Mark Cavendish, Sam Bennett and Fernando Gaviria come in with points to prove, and trying to regain their positions back in the peloton as winning sprinters.

They will face off young guns such as Olav Kooij and Kaden Groves, but also a wide array of proven winners and very fast finishers such as Fabio Jakobsen, Dylan Groenewegen, Tim Merlier, Phil Bauhaus, Juan Sebastián Molano, Elia Viviani, Pascal Ackermann and Jakub Mareczko.

*** Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty
** Ben O'Connor, Pello Bilbao, Ilan van Wilder
* Jay Vine, Jan Hirt, Max Poole, Enier Rubio, Lennert van Eetvelt, Attila Valter, Tobias Foss, Eddie Dunbar, Bart Lemmen

Pick: Adam Yates