Dubai could host a future start of the Giro d'Italia
Dubai could host the start of the Giro d'Italia in the next few years as the globalization of the sport continues and event organisers look for new sources of funding for major events.
The middle eastern Emirate will host the Dubai Tour - its first international stage race, in February 2014 in partnership with RCS Sport. Key staff from Dubai visited the Giro d'Italia in May and were at Il Lombardia and the 2014 Giro d'Italia presentation in Milan on Monday to learn more about the technical and promotional aspects of professional cycling.
Cyclingnews has discovered that the idea of hosting the Giro d'Italia Grand Partenza is already being considered.
The Middle East has hosted early-season races in Qatar and Oman for several years and other sports have tapped into the wealth and the passion for sport in the area to boost their international profile.
The Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France have started in various parts of Europe before, with riders and race staff flying from Denmark to Italy and from the Netherlands to Spain in recent years. Logistics and travel are becoming less and less of a problem. There is only a two-hour time difference between Italy and Dubai.
RCS Sport obtained dispensation from the UCI for an extra rest day in the 2014 Giro d'Italia after three days of racing to allow teams to make the three-hour flight from Ireland to Italy. A similar schedule could open the door to a Grand Tour start in the Middle East or even on the East coast of the USA.
"This is something were working on and were going to discuss as part of our strategy with the Giro organisers," Mohammed Merhab Al Sabagh, a board member of the UAE Cycling Federation and the head of the technical and sport division of the Dubai Tour told Cyclingnews after the Giro d'Italia presentation.
"We've seen how Northern Ireland and Ireland have organised the opening three stages and that's fabulous. Next year we're going to watch the stages in Belfast and Ireland and see how they do, then open the door to negotiations with RCS Sport and the Giro to host one or two stages in Dubai."
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Money, money, money. We can buy the world, we can buy credibility. Tradition is dead, money is destroying sport.
The middle eastern Emirate will host the Dubai Tour - its first international stage race, in February 2014 in partnership with RCS Sport. Key staff from Dubai visited the Giro d'Italia in May and were at Il Lombardia and the 2014 Giro d'Italia presentation in Milan on Monday to learn more about the technical and promotional aspects of professional cycling.
Cyclingnews has discovered that the idea of hosting the Giro d'Italia Grand Partenza is already being considered.
The Middle East has hosted early-season races in Qatar and Oman for several years and other sports have tapped into the wealth and the passion for sport in the area to boost their international profile.
The Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France have started in various parts of Europe before, with riders and race staff flying from Denmark to Italy and from the Netherlands to Spain in recent years. Logistics and travel are becoming less and less of a problem. There is only a two-hour time difference between Italy and Dubai.
RCS Sport obtained dispensation from the UCI for an extra rest day in the 2014 Giro d'Italia after three days of racing to allow teams to make the three-hour flight from Ireland to Italy. A similar schedule could open the door to a Grand Tour start in the Middle East or even on the East coast of the USA.
"This is something were working on and were going to discuss as part of our strategy with the Giro organisers," Mohammed Merhab Al Sabagh, a board member of the UAE Cycling Federation and the head of the technical and sport division of the Dubai Tour told Cyclingnews after the Giro d'Italia presentation.
"We've seen how Northern Ireland and Ireland have organised the opening three stages and that's fabulous. Next year we're going to watch the stages in Belfast and Ireland and see how they do, then open the door to negotiations with RCS Sport and the Giro to host one or two stages in Dubai."
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Money, money, money. We can buy the world, we can buy credibility. Tradition is dead, money is destroying sport.
'Performance analysis and Froome not being clean was a media driven story. I haven’t heard one guy in the peloton say a negative thing about Froome, and I haven’t heard a single person in the peloton suggest Froome isn’t clean.' TSP
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Dubai in early May. Scorchio!0
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Standard. Sports corruption + variable location = hosting inappropriate sports in wealthy arab countr.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/acquaro ... -rcs-sport0 -
Bo Duke wrote:Money, money, money. We can buy the world, we can buy credibility. Tradition is dead, money is destroying sport.
Quite so. It was bad enough when Murdoch's dirty money effectively bought British Cycling, but Dubai is little more than a oppressive dictatorship built and serviced by slave labour."an original thinker… the intellectual heir of Galileo and Einstein… suspicious of orthodoxy - any orthodoxy… He relishes all forms of ontological argument": jane90.0 -
Never understood the fascination with Dubai myself. A concrete jungle built in the sand, with a bit of bling attached, wasnt this done years ago in Las Vegas?!
People that love Dubai and flock to it usually happen to be either money grabbing b@stards or money grabbing wannabes.
You cant even kiss on the beach ffs, so what happens with stage winners kissing podium girls?
Couldnt think of anything worse.0 -
I suppose it's like football i.e. corrupt governing body accepts large sum of cash to hold football tournament in mega hot country then after they have spent all their ill gotten gains and actually think about it realise it will be too hot to actually hold a tournament there and desperately try and move all the other fixtures to suit.
It's almost as bad as if they were to hold the UCI world championships in a desert country with no hills... Oh wait!0 -
Paul 8v wrote:I suppose it's like football i.e. corrupt governing body accepts large sum of cash to hold football tournament in mega hot country then after they have spent all their ill gotten gains and actually think about it realise it will be too hot to actually hold a tournament there and desperately try and move all the other fixtures to suit.
It's almost as bad as if they were to hold the UCI world championships in a desert country with no hills... Oh wait!
Whenever the 2020 Qatar football world cup is debated on the radio for the absurdity that it is, Im reminded that the 2016 road cycling worlds are there, and this whole 'build a hilly course' lark.0 -
Ed-tron wrote:Paul 8v wrote:I suppose it's like football i.e. corrupt governing body accepts large sum of cash to hold football tournament in mega hot country then after they have spent all their ill gotten gains and actually think about it realise it will be too hot to actually hold a tournament there and desperately try and move all the other fixtures to suit.
It's almost as bad as if they were to hold the UCI world championships in a desert country with no hills... Oh wait!
Whenever the 2020 Qatar football world cup is debated on the radio for the absurdity that it is, Im reminded that the 2016 road cycling worlds are there, and this whole 'build a hilly course' lark.
Yes. Another of Pat and Hein's legacies.0 -
I suppose it's always been a commercial sport - but The Giro in Dubai just doesn't do anything for me - hopefully will never happen.[Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0
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I hope the UCI ethics committee investigate and reveal how much Pat was paid.'Performance analysis and Froome not being clean was a media driven story. I haven’t heard one guy in the peloton say a negative thing about Froome, and I haven’t heard a single person in the peloton suggest Froome isn’t clean.' TSP0
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I said it would happen once they announced the third rest day for next year's race.0
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In a few 1000 years, when temps have cooled to the merely dangerous, intrepid survivors will stumble upon these insane follies in the desert with great awe. The very least we can do for them is a legendary Pink jersey for Cav, having made the front group in the dust-storm echelons....a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.0
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Incorrect! At least stick to the facts when you rant!EPO Delivery Man wrote:Never understood the fascination with Dubai myself. A concrete jungle built in the sand, with a bit of bling attached, wasnt this done years ago in Las Vegas?!
People that love Dubai and flock to it usually happen to be either money grabbing b@stards or money grabbing wannabes.
You cant even kiss on the beach ffs, so what happens with stage winners kissing podium girls?
Couldnt think of anything worse.0
