Dubai Tour: Five sprinters to watch out for

DUBAI: The Dubai Tour, now into its fifth edition, will host several top riders across the world. The five-stage race that kick-starts on Tuesday will see many of the world's sprinters and some great champions, and will offer high-speed, adrenaline-fuelled sprinting as some of the biggest-name fast finishers of the sport head to the Middle East for five extensive days of racing.
With four flat stages and one that has a mild mountain climb, the format will once again favour sprinters.With that in mind, here are TOI Sports' five picks who can make heads turn in order to win the 'Circle of Stars' trophy.
1. Marcel Kittel (Team Katusha-Alpecin)

A professional rider since 2011, Marcel Kittel is not only a two-time defending Champion of the Dubai Tour but his list of accolades also include 86 victories - with eight stages at the Dubai Tour and the last two years' general classification (Blue Jersey) and point classification (Red Jersey) along with 19 Grand Tour stage wins (four at the Giro d'Italia, 14 at the Tour de France – five of them being in the 2017 edition – and one at the Vuelta a Espana).
Kittel won the overall classification last year after a sand storm forced organisers to cancel the key stage up to the edge of Hatta Dam (Stage 4). The German won three sprints and was once again at the center of action after being punched by Astana's Andriy Grivko as riders fought for position in the echelons on Stage 3. This time, with a new team in Katusha-Alpecin, expect Kittel to once again hit the ground running.
2. Mark Cavendish (Team Dimension-Data)

Mark Cavendish needs no introduction. One of the finest sprinters of the modern era and the winner of the inaugural edition of the Dubai Tour will be gunning for glory after a disappointing 2017 season where the British rider had to deal with a lot of health problems. Cavendish has a good record while racing in the Middle East and will get his season underway aiming for a repeat of his glory in 2015.
Cavendish has won 15 stages at the Giro d'Italia, a mighty 30 at the Tour de France, and three at the Vuelta a Espana. In 2011, in Copenhagen, he became UCI Road World Champion, and boasts one-day-race successes such as Milano-Sanremo (2009) and the National Road Race Championships. In 2016 Mark won the gold medal with Bradley Wiggins in the Madison at the Track World Championships; he took the opening stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish at Utah Beach and put on the maillot jaune for the first time; then he won the silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games in the Omnium. Cavendish won two stages and the overall victory at the 2015 Dubai Tour.
3. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)

Having reached a deal to join UAE Team Emirates last August, Alexander Kristoff will make his long-awaited debut for the team at the Dubai Tour. Kristoff moved to his new team in the off-season having spent six largely successful years at Katusha, and despite the fact that he will be racing his first edition of the event, the Norwegian is no stranger to racing in the Middle East, having won six stage of the Tour of Qatar while the race was still in existence. The current UEC European Road Champion, Kristoff, won the 2014 Milan-Sanremo and the 2015 Tour of Flanders. At the last year's UCI World Road Championship in Bergen, the Norwegian finished second behind Peter Sagan.
4. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)

After making his debut with her new Quick-Step Floors team at the Tour Down Under, Elia Viviani will follow with the Dubai Tour. In this five-day staged race, the Italian will again be the leader of the Belgian formation. It relies on him to aim for at least a stage victory, and thus continue on the good momentum attained in January. Viviani's departure from Team Sky has been well-documented, but the rider has embraced the idea of how Quick-Steps gives more importance to one-day racing. He may not be as quick as Kittel but Viviani has a reputation of being one of the most accomplished sprinters in the peloton: he has claimed 50 wins since turning pro in 2010. In 2015 and in 2016 he won the Dubai Tour second stage and wore the Blue Jersey as leader of the GC. Count him out at your own peril.
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

To everyone's surprise, Vincenzo Nibali added the Dubai Tour to his race programme after missing the Vuelta a San Juan due to a sudden stomach virus. The concern was understandable since a long season lies ahead, with the Tour of Oman slated to be held just three days after the conclusion of the Dubai Tour. But one of the greatest ever allrounders, Nibali has in the past expressed his desire to triumph in Dubai. According to his manager, 'The Shark' is good to go.
(The Correspondent's trip to Dubai was paid for by the Dubai Tour)