The Dubai Tour, a four stage race from 5 to 8 February, 2014, was established by an agreement between Dubai Sports Council and RCS Sport back in May of this year. The Dubai Tour will now open the Asia Tour calendar.
That agreement, coupled with the exemption obtained from the UCI rules to allow a rest day during the first week in this next year's Giro d'Italia (the first three days will be in Ireland, followed by a rest day, before the race resumes in Italy), opened the door to consider a start in Dubai. "It's something we're working on and which will be discussed as part of our strategy," said a UAE official. "Next year we're going to see the stages in Ireland and see how they do. Then, we'll open the negotiations with RCS Sport and the Giro to accommodate one or two stages in Dubai."
As a result of the UCI exemption the 2014 Giro will be the first foreign start for any Grand Tour since the implementation of a new UCI regulation prohibiting rest days on three-week Tours until the completion of at least seven days of racing. When that rule was implemented RCS Sport stated that because of it was highly unlikely that the Giro could ever start in the USA.
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Larry says: bad idea. The Ireland adventure is going to cause the mother-of-all-transfers in 2014. Will the teams go to Ireland as they would to a fly-away race - with minimal equipment and rental cars instead of their dedicated support cars, truck and bus? Or worse, will the mechanics have to drive all this onto a ferry, then across France and the length of Italy? Taking the Giro out of Italy makes a lie of the "world's toughest race in the world's most beautiful place" slogan. RCS should know better - these ideas are all about money rather than sport.
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