UAE Tour: Tudor receive wildcard, Adam Yates and Luke Plapp headline startlist

Beginning on 19 February, the UAE Tour is expected to attract some of the world’s best cyclists for the third and final Middle Eastern stage race before the European season gets into full swing.

Although a full start list is yet to be revealed, race organisers RCS announced on Tuesday the 20-strong list of teams who will contest the seven-day stage race later this month.

Sixteen UCI WorldTeams are joined by Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Dstny, both of whom earned automatic invitations to all WorldTour events by way of their performances as UCI ProTeams last season. RCS has also offered wildcard invitations to Italian side Corratec-Vini Fantini and Fabian Cancellara’s Tudor Pro Cycling.

The two WorldTour teams skipping the Emirati race are Groupama-FDJ and Arkéa-B&B Hotels, but all the remaining top-tier squads will be attending.

Tudor Pro Cycling were recently announced as part of the Giro d’Italia line-up and Corratec-Vini Fantini have been offered a place at Tirreno-Adriatico, both of which are also organised by RCS.

Read more: Polti Kometa, Tudor Pro Cycling and Bardiani receive Giro d'Italia wildcards

Signing a host of former WorldTour riders ahead of the 2024 campaign, Tudor Pro Cycling have made their lofty ambitions clear and are being rewarded with invitations to some of the year’s biggest races, now including the UAE Tour.

It has been a positive start to the week for the Swiss side, with hotly-tipped talent Arvid de Kleijn extending his contract through 2026 on Tuesday morning, joining the likes of Matteo Trentin, Michael Storer and Alberto Dainese on the ambitious team’s books for the next few seasons.

Read more: UAE Tour routes revealed: Jebel Hafeet headlines men's and women's races

Elsewhere, the start list for the race is starting to take shape and looks set to feature a whole host of big-name talent, which is unsurprising given the UAE Tour’s honour roll is made up entirely of some of the world’s best climbers: Primož Roglič (2019), Adam Yates (2020), Tadej Pogačar (2021, 2022) and Remco Evenepoel (2023).

Adam Yates, Luke Plapp and Mark Cavendish expected to start UAE Tour

Behind Soudal Quick-Step’s Evenepoel on last year’s UAE Tour podium were Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) and Ineos Grenadiers’ Luke Plapp, now of Jayco AlUla. Whilst Evenepoel will not be back to defend his title this time around, both Yates and Plapp are in line to start stage 1 from Al Dhafra Walk Madinat Zayed on 19 February.

The latter confirmed his attendance to GCN at the recent Santos Tour Down Under, whilst Yates has started the last four editions of the race and picked up two stage wins along the way. The British climber won the overall title on debut in 2020 and in the absence of Pogačar, Yates will be expected to lead the home team’s general classification ambitions once again.

He will not be alone, though, with Brandon McNulty also in line to join his teammate. The American is clearly a man in form having recently won stage 4 and the overall title at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.

After a disastrous Tour Down Under that saw him crash out, it is uncertain whether or not Plapp will be able to challenge the UAE Team Emirates pair, but the Australian national champion will surely look to test his legs on the stage 2 individual time trial.

Read more: All-American victory at Volta a la Comunitat Valencia as Brandon McNulty takes overall

Away from these three, the big names expected to race the UAE Tour include Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost), all of whom will be riders to watch on the two summit finishes, whilst Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) will go head to head in the sprints.

Before the men’s race gets underway this week, the relatively new women’s UAE Tour kicks off on Thursday, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) primed to mount a title defence, whilst Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) is the big favourite for the sprints with Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) out through illness.

For more about the 2024 men's UAE Tour, including the latest news, key information and race history, visit our dedicated race hub.