What the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour may lack in history it certainly makes up for in star riders. The start list for the first running of the four-day race in the United Arab Emirates features a host of Grand Tour winners, top-class sprinters and a world champion or two.
Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Aru (both Astana), world road race champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Elia Viviani (Team Sky) and Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) are among the 108 riders taking part.
>>> Nibali, Aru and Kittel for inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour
Eighteen teams of six riders will compete in the race, which starts on Thursday, October 8 and concludes on Sunday, October 11.
There are eight British riders present: Andy Fenn and Ben Swift from Team Sky; and six riders from British outfit Team Wiggins: Luc Hall, Chris Latham, Iain Paton, Daniel Patten, Dan Pearson and Michael Thompson.
Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) had been due to start but had to withdraw from competing due to injury after crashing in the Tour of Britain. Cavendish will still be present at the race in his capacity as event ambassador.
>>> Abu Dhabi Tour 2015: What you need to know
Astana
1 NIBALI Vincenzo (Ita)
2 AGNOLI Valerio (Ita)
3 ARU Fabio (Ita)
4 GUARDINI Andrea (Ita)
5 LUTSENKO Alexey (Kaz)
6 TIRALONGO Paolo (Ita)
BMC Racing
11 GILBERT Philippe (Bel)
12 BURGHARDT Marcus (Ger)
13 OSS Daniel (Ita)
14 QUINZIATO Manuel (Ita)
15 SENNI Manuel (Ita)
16 WYSS Danilo (Sui)
Bora-Argon 18
21 BUCHMANN Emanuel (Ger)
22 KONRAD Patrick (Aut)
23 NERZ Dominik (Ger)
24 POSTLBERGER Lukas (Aut)
25 SCHWARZMANN Michael (Ger)
26 VOSS Paul (Ger)
Colombia
31 AVILA VANEGAS Edwin Alcibiad (Col)
32 CANO ARDILA Alex (Col)
33 MARTINEZ Daniel (Col)
34 MOLANO Sebastian (Col)
35 QUINTERO Carlos Julian (Col)
36 RAMIREZ BOTERO Carlos Mario (Col)
Drapac Professional Cycling
41 BROWN Graeme (Aus)
42 CANTY Brendan (Aus)
43 CLARKE William (Aus)
44 JONES Brenton (Aus)
45 MEYER Travis (Aus)
46 PHELAN Adam (Aus)
Etixx-QuickStep
51 BOONEN Tom (Bel)
52 BRAMBILLA Gianluca (Ita)
53 SABATINI Fabio (Ita)
54 VANDENBERGH Stijn (Bel)
55 VERONA QUINTANILLA Carlos (Spa)
56 WISNIOWSKI Lukasz (Pol)
Lampre-Merida
61 MODOLO Sacha (Ita)
62 CIMOLAI Davide (Ita)
63 FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto (Por)
64 MORI Manuele (Ita)
65 ULISSI Diego (Ita)
66 XU Gang (Chn)
Movistar
71 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro (Spa)
72 LOBATO DEL VALLE Juan Jose (Spa)
73 MORENO BAZAN Javier (Spa)
74 ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin (Spa)
75 SOLER GIMENEZ Marc (Spa)
76 VISCONTI Giovanni (Ita)
MTN-Qhubeka
81 GOSS Matthew Harley (Aus)
82 BOS Theo (Ned)
83 JIM Songezo (Rsa)
84 REGUIGUI Youcef (Alg)
85 STAUFF Andreas (Ger)
86 TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel (Eri)
Orica-GreenEdge
91 MATTHEWS Michael (Aus)
92 BEWLEY Sam (NZl)
93 CHAVES RUBIO Johan Esteban (Col)
94 HAYMAN Mathew (Aus)
95 KEUKELEIRE Jens (Bel)
96 MEIER Christian (Can)
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Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling
101 ALBLOOSHI Mohammed (UAE)
102 HADDI Soufiane (Mar)
103 THANI Mansour (UAE)
104 MANCEBO PEREZ Francisco (Spa)
105 PALINI Andrea (Ita)
106 SCHTIOUI Rafaa (Tun)
Giant-Alpecin
111 KITTEL Marcel (Ger)
112 DUMOULIN Tom (Ned)
113 FRÖHLINGER Johannes (Ger)
114 JI Cheng (Chn)
115 MEZGEC Luka (Slo)
116 TIMMER Albert (Ned)
Katusha
121 BELKOV Maxim (Rus)
122 GUARNIERI Jacopo (Ita)
123 KOZONCHUK Dmitry (Rus)
124 LOSADA ALGUACIL Alberto (Spa)
125 VORGANOV Eduard (Rus)
126 VOROBYEV Anton (Rus)
Team Sky
131 VIVIANI Elia (Ita)
132 FENN Andrew (GBr)
133 HENAO GOMEZ Sebastian (Col)
134 POELS Wouter (Ned)
135 KONIG Leopold (Cze)
136 SWIFT Ben (GBr)
Team Wiggins
141 HALL Luc (GBr)
142 LATHAM Christopher (GBr)
143 PATON Iain (GBr)
144 PATTEN Daniel (GBr)
145 PEARSON Dan (GBr)
146 THOMPSON Michael (GBr)
Tinkoff-Saxo
151 SAGAN Peter (Svk)
152 BENNATI Daniele (Ita)
153 BOARO Manuele (Ita)
154 PIRES Bruno (Por)
155 SAGAN Juraj (Svk)
156 TOSATTO Matteo (Ita)
UAE National Selection
161 AHMED YOUSEF AHMED ABDULLA A (UAE)
162 AMMAR ALI IBRAHIM ABDULLA (UAE)
163 JABER HUSSAIN AHMED ABDULLA (UAE)
164 KHAYYAM SODIR SHIR MOHAMAD (UAE)
165 MAJID MOHAMMED ABDULRAHIM AL (UAE)
166 TALAL SOUDIR SHIR MOHAMAD (UAE)
UnitedHealthcare
171 CANOLA Marco (Ita)
172 BAZZANA Alessandro (Ita)
173 BRAJKOVIC Janez (Slo)
174 MURPHY John (USA)
175 PUTT Tanner (USA)
176 ZURLO Federico (Ita)
