The inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour was launched yesterday and organisers are already hoping it can help cycling become the No. 1 sport in the UAE.

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The event will take place from October 8-11 and form part of the overall UCI Asia Tour. It is being jointly organised by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), UAE Cycling Federation and RCS Sport. It will comprise of 555km and include four stages, of which three will be sprint and one will be a medium mountain stage.

The four routes will be the Liwa Stage, Capital Stage, Al Ain Stage and Yas Stage. Both Aref Hamad Al Awani, General Secretary of the ADSC, and Mohammed Mehrab, Technical Director at the Dubai Sports Council, believe the Tour is another step towards cycling becoming the UAE’s top sport after the success of the Dubai Tour.

“The buzz about cycling has already started in the UAE,” said Al Awani. “People already believe that cycling is a lifestyle for us.”

Mehrab said: “The number of social riders in the UAE is about 30,000, 15,000 in Abu Dhabi. You can see the number growing towards being the No1 sport in the UAE. We’ve had the Dubai Tour, now the Abu Dhabi Tour is coming.”

Lorenzo Giorgetti, RCS Sports and Events CEO, added: “I am sure that the new-born Abu Dhabi Tour will have a huge impact on cycling all over the world.”

Mark Cavendish, the British cyclist and Etixx-Quick-Step rider who won the Dubai Tour last month, said via video-call at yesterday’s launch: “I think it’s a great place to have a bike race. Hopefully my team gets an invitation.”

Race chiefs have set the Dubai Tour as the benchmark and hope the 2.1 rated event could one day form part of the International Cycling Union’s World Tour, home to the sport’s most iconic races – the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

Al Awani added: “It (Dubai) is a benchmark and we are aiming to reach that. We are sure we can convince UCI to make the Tour of Abu Dhabi part of the World Tour, but it is up to us.”

The Dubai Tour took place between February 4-7 and it was the second time it had been held in the city. This year, it was upgraded to 2.HC, meaning more UCI World Tour teams could compete in the four-stage event.

Cavendish won the Tour in a time of 15 hours, 22 minutes, 38 seconds – six seconds ahead of Germany’s John Degenkolb.