UAE Tour is at times referred to the 'sprinters world championships' and that label has never been more apt than for this year's edition considering the quality and depth of the sprinting talent set to take to the start line.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), perhaps last year's top sprinter, may be absent but that's where the disappointment stops. Looking to the week ahead, Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) will face no fewer than 11 other top sprinters capable of taking a victory.
There are four stages for the fast men, starting with Monday's opener; some 141km from Al Dhafra Walk Madinat Zayed to Liwa. And though the opposition - from both the other fast men and their lead-outs - will be fierce, a victory for Bennett would be huge.
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By the time the race finishes next Sunday, the Carrick-on-Suir man will definitely have a measure of where his form and, and how his team stacks up, against the men he will do battle with through this season in the big bunch finishes. His 11 sprint rivals for the week ahead are:
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
- Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team)
- Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team)
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious)
- Sam Welsford (Bora-hansgrohe)
- Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech)
- Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step)
- Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)
- Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla)
- Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike)
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Bennett may face a big challenge in trying to beat that line-up to the chequered flag, but he has beaten them all before. And a win in the Middle East next week could catapult him back to the top tier of the sprint game.
Bennett will not be the only Irishman in the field as Ryan Mullen will be leading out Welsford, his new Bora-hansgrohe sprinter. Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco Alula) is also on the start list and he will look to stages three and seven, with finishes on the climbs of Jebel Jais and Jebel Hafeet, to make an impact.
And while a top general classification result will be difficult to achieve, the field is not packed with big name GC riders, though Adam Yates is the outright favourite. The UAE Team Emirates man has already won the queen stage and overall at Tour of Oman (2.Pro) this season.
Yates will be part of a very strong UAE Team Emirates line-up for the general classification as he has Jay Vine and Brandon McNulty for company, any one of whom could claim the overall title.
The other obvious challengers for the overall include: Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Einer Rubio (Movistar Team), Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), George Bennett (Israel - Premier Tech) and Jan Hirt (Soudal - Quick Step).
