The 2021 WorldTour season is officially underway, with the UAE Tour kicking off the top-level season with a star-filled start list on Sunday.
Last year, the race heralded the beginning of the end to the spring season as COVID-19 hit the race entourage and the final two stages were cancelled. This time around, we can be hopeful that the week-long race will reach its conclusion.
Reigning champion Adam Yates kicks off his Ineos Grenadiers career at the race, Chris Froome makes his Israel Start-Up Nation bow, while Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) starts his 2021 seasons in the UAE.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) unsurprisingly won the opening two stages, while Sam Bennett (DeceuninckQuickStep) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) also have a win apiece, while Pogačar leads the race after his stage win on Jebel Hafeet.
Cyclingnews will be bringing you full reports, results, news, interviews, and analysis throughout the race. Read on to find out how to watch the UAE Tour via live stream, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN.
Yates is joined in the UAE by fellow Ineos newcomer Daniel Martínez, as well as time trial World Champion Ganna and Tour de la Provence winner Iván Sosa. Pogačar, meanwhile, is aided by new signing Rafał Majka.
2018 winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is also at the race, kicking off his 20th season as a pro. Past podium finishers at the race also include Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech) and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious).
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Other big-name GC men preset include Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Rigoberto Urán, Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo), and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma).
Arguably even more impressive than the GC field is the sprint lineup for the race, which should see four sprint stages. The UAE Tour welcomes Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), and Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep).
They're joined by Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), and Cees Bol (Team DSM) in what is arguably the strongest sprint selection at a race outside of the Tour de France.
Aside from the four flat days between Sunday's opener at Al Dhafra Castle and Abu Dhabi Breakwater next Saturday, there's a short 13km time trial on stage 2, as well as two stages to serve as the battleground for the GC men - summit finishes at Jebel Hafeet (stage 3) and Jebel Jais (stage 5) - and ones to watch.
Read on for all the information on how to watch the 2021 UAE Tour.
UAE Tour live stream
Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for alerts on important stories and action during the race.
The UAE Tour will be aired live in the UK and Europe on the Eurosport Player, with a subscription costing £6.99 for a single month, £4.99 for a year-long monthly pass, or £39.99 for a 12-month pass. GCN+ will also show the race – where throughout February fans can get a year’s subscription for half its usual cost, at just £19.99 / €19.99.
The race is also aired on GCN+ in North America. For the month of February, a subscription will set you back $24.99 for the year – that's 50 per cent off, with a year costing the regular price of $49.99 thereafter.
Elsewhere, Rai Sport will carry coverage of the race in Italy, and Sporza will show the race in Belgium.
If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams to be geo-restricted, you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network', or VPN, for your laptop, tablet or mobile.
Our sister site TechRadar tested hundreds of VPNs and recommends the number-one VPN currently available as Express VPN. With ExpressVPN, you can watch on many devices at once including Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.
Race schedule
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Date
Stage
Start/Finish
Distance
Start (GMT)
Finish (GMT)
February 21
Stage 1
Al Dhafra Castle – Al Mirfa
176km
08:25
12:30
February 22
Stage 2
Al Hudayriat Island – Al Hudayriat Island
13km
Row 1 - Cell 4
12:30
February 23
Stage 3
Al Ain Strata Manufacturing – Jebel Hafeet
166km
08:25
12:30
February 24
Stage 4
Al Marjan Island – Al Marjan Island
204km
07:45
12:30
February 25
Stage 5
Fujairah Marine Club – Jebel Jais
170km
08:05
12:30
February 26
Stage 6
Deira Island – Palm Jumeirah
165km
08:35
12:30
February 27
Stage 7
Yas Mall – Abu Dhabi Breakwater
147km
09:05
12:30
Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*
Cyclingnews is the world's leader in English-language coverage of professional cycling. Started in 1995 by University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell, the site was one of the first to provide breaking news and results over the internet in English. The site was purchased by Knapp Communications in 1999, and owner Gerard Knapp built it into the definitive voice of pro cycling. Since then, major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features, news, results, photos and tech reporting. The site continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English voice in professional cycling.
