Ruote Amatoriali

Just two months after Mark Cavendish’s winning sprint on the YAS Marina Circuit we’re talking back about the next Abu Dhabi Tour. The four-stage race organized by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council in collaboration with RCS Sport is now to be raced in February. The Abu Dhabi Tour receives its inaugural WorldTour license, joining the small circle of elite races (38, on five continents from January to December) whose points contribute to the official UCI-Union Cycliste Internationale WorldTour ranking.

On 24 January, during the presentation of the route and official jerseys (invitation to follow) the full schedule of marketing and promotional activities will be unveiled, including:

The new Abu Dhabi Tour advertising campaign
The second edition of the successful Abu Dhabi Tour Challenge on the Yas Marina Circuit
The official Abu Dhabi Tour Fan Zone, open from 17 to 26 February and hosted again by the Nation Towers complex, with a venue dedicated to the sponsors, a kids’ area and a large screen for following the race action live
The educational projects dedicated to Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Madinat Zayed Schools but also open to groups of parents or other special requests
The advertising caravan, the travelling promotional project that, from 17 to 22 February, will visit the main Abu Dhabi landmarks as well as the stage cities. Then, during the race days, the caravan will anticipate the riders on their route to reach the finish line, in a format similar to Europe’s Grand Tour events, with specially branded promotional vehicles included

The first two editions of the race have proved very positive in terms of media exposure: between 2015 and 2016 the number of countries in which the Abu Dhabi Tour was broadcast on television increased from 169 to 177; while the total hours of TV programming grew from 323 to almost 390. Thanks to a partnership with the Velon group, for the first time ever in a men's professional road race, live on-board bike footage was available for live television coverage on stage 4 of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour (11 October 2015). The following year this successful format was rolled out to all the Abu Dhabi Tour’s stages, with the addition of live rider data being made available for television and with graphics for online publishing.
The quality of the riders participating in the Abu Dhabi Tour is second to none, thanks in part to a three year agreement with the Velon Group: the back to back World Champion Peter Sagan competed here for the first time wearing his first rainbow jersey, along with the Grand Tour greats such as Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde – and between 2015 and 2016 five world champions (Peter Sagan, Philippe Gilbert, Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish and Michał Kwiatkowski) raced with two Olympic champions (Elia Viviani and Greg Van Avermaet), ensuring a high quality lineup.

The scenario for 2017 will get even better: the Abu Dhabi Tour will be the final round of Middle Eastern races in February, before the group moves to Europe for the traditional season start. And the appeal of WorldTour ranking points will ensure high prioritisation form the teams and riders:

Race leader’s jersey (per stage): 6 points
Stage wins: 40 (1st position), 15 (2nd position), 6 (3rd position)
Final standings: 300 (1st position), 250 (2nd), 215 (3rd), 175 (4th), 120 (5th), 115 (6th), 95 (7th), 75 (8th), 60 (9th), 50 (10th), 40 (11th), 35 (12th), 30 (13th), 25 (14th), 20 (from 15th to 20th), 12 (from 21st to 30th), 5 (from 31st to 50th), 2 (from 51st to 55th), 1 (from 56th to 60th)

Key Abu Dhabi Tour 2016 headlines:

389H 56M 13S Total broadcasting time (+20.74%)
+27.5% viewers visited the official Abu Dhabi Tour website
+8.5% increase the average pages viewed per day during the race
49% increase in social media followers, with 2016 highlight videos already receiving more than 1.2million views

Key statistics for 2016 global media coverage:

Over 2,746 articles online worldwide, from 61 countries across five continents (13th to 30th October – from one week before the start to one week after finish of the event)
US$1,695,716 Total value of local print coverage in the same period (made up from US$840,000 in Arabic language media, and US$782,000 in English language media)

His Excellency Aref Al Awani, ADSC’s General Secretary, said: “Media exposure and engagement on social media are the main metrics to reflect the value of sponsorship. For the next edition, the first included in the WorldTour calendar, we – the Abu Dhabi Tour and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council – should probably change our benchmarks because we will be amongst many established WorldTour races yet despite being rookies, we want to keep ourselves among the best, in terms of organization, rider line-up and technological experimentation during the race. This is the way to reinforce the status we have reached in just two editions, that is to say, amongst the world’s cycling elite.”

#RideToAbuDhabi

Abu Dhabi Tour Media Kit
From the official online pressroom the media can download high resolution pictures of the 2016 race, the various press conferences, the opening ceremony and the UCI Cycling Gala. In order to download the pictures, just go to http://pressroom.rcssport.it/ (username: press / password: press), select “Scarica contenuti/Download contents” on the top right, choose “2016” from the menu on the left, then “Ciclismo”, and then “Abu Dhabi Tour”. The photos are free of charge for editorial use, as long as both the Abu Dhabi Tour and the photographer’s name is quoted.

Press RCS Sport Ciclismo

Ruote Amatoriali