The 2022 WorldTour season officially begins this week with the UAE Tour kicking off the top-level season.
Last year's race saw Tadej Pogačar claim overall victory for home squad UAE Team Emirates after the COVID-19 disrupted race of the previous season which marked the beginning of the end of the 2020 spring calendar.
The Slovenian will once again be bidding for overall victory this year as he heads up a full-strength UAE lineup including 2021 third-place finisher João Almeida, climbers George Bennett and Rafał Majka, and sprinter Pascal Ackermann.
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.
Despite boasting the strongest team on the startlist, UAE Team Emirates will face some stern competition during the seven-day race.
Adam Yates, who beat Pogačar in 2020 before finishing second last year, will head up the Ineos Grenadiers selection which also includes time trial world champion Filippo Ganna and star sprinter Elia Viviani.
Over at Bora-Hansgrohe, Aleksandr Vlasov will look to continue his strong start to the season after winning the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. Jai Hindley also races, while sprinter Sam Bennett makes his second debut for the squad.
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Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Romain Bardet (Team DSM), David de la Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan), Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma), Fausto Masnada (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), and Tour of Oman winner Jan Hirt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) are among the other GC men lining up at the race.
Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix), and Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) will take on Viviani and Bennett among the lineup of top sprinters.
Four of the seven stages – 1, 2, 5 and 6 – will provide opportunities for those riders to battle it out on the flat. Stage 3 is a nine-kilometre time trial in Ajman, while stages 4 and 7 host the major climbing days on the summit finishes at Jebel Jais and Jebel Hafeet.
Read on for all the information on how to watch the 2022 UAE Tour.
Live stream
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The UAE Tour will be aired live in the UK and Europe on GCN+, Eurosport Player and Discovery+, 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.
The race is also aired on GCN+ in North America, which is available for $8.99 per month, or with an annual subscription of $49.99.
Local live coverage will be provided via the Dubai Sports live stream. 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
February 20
Stage 1
Madinat Zayed – Madinat Zayed
184km
February 21
Stage 2
Al Hudayriat Island – Abu Dhabi Breakwater
176km
February 22
Stage 3
Ajman – Ajman ITT
9km
February 23
Stage 4
Fujairah Fort – Jebel Jais
181km
February 24
Stage 5
Ras Al Khaimah Corniche – Al Marjan Island
182km
February 25
Stage 6
Expo 2020 Dubai – Expo 2020 Dubai
180km
February 26
Stage 7
Al Jahili Fort – Jebel Hafeet
148km
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