On the starting line set in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, Pogacar finds other riders who are also launching their season.
Mainly the Briton Adam Yates and the Portuguese Joao Almeida, who took their place behind him on the podium last year, the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin and the Frenchman Romain Bardet, a neophyte of the Emirati event.
A year later, Almeida joined Pogacar's UAE team with the next Giro in sight, the Slovenian having planned to focus first on the Tour de France.
But both are in the same formation which also presents another recruit of choice, the New Zealander George Bennett, who has come to support Pogacar in the mountains.
"The last few months have gone almost perfectly. I had a little setback a few weeks ago (end of January) with the Covid-19 but fortunately it did not disturb my preparation too much", announces the Slovenian who specifies s been training a lot lately with Almeida.
"Pogacar will be our leader", confirms the team manager, Matxin Fernandez, before this race in which the double winner of the Tour has become a regular host.
Beaten in 2020 by Adam Yates, he took his revenge last year by winning the Jebel Hafeet stage, one of the two summit finishes.
The organizers (RCS) have programmed four stages for the benefit of the sprinters who came in large numbers (Cavendish, S. Bennett, Viviani, Démare, Groenewegen, Philipsen, Dekker, Ackermann) in addition to a nine-kilometre time trial that the world champion in the discipline, the Italian Filippo Ganna, will tackle Tuesday as a favorite against the Swiss Stefan Bissegger.
But the classification will be determined above all by the two finishes at the top, in the long ascent of Jebel Jais on Wednesday (21.5 km at 5.4%, at an altitude of 1490 m) then Jebel Hafeet (10.6 km at 6 8%) next Saturday, for the conclusion, in the mountains adjoining Oman.
If Bardet leaves in the unknown, the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov, one of the men to follow this week after his recent victory in the Tour of the Valencian Community, finds a ground which he knows partially.
In 2018, he participated anonymously in the Tour of Abu Dhabi, a year before the race merged with the Tour of Dubai and extended to the neighboring emirates.
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The stages (1058 km):
Sunday: 1st stage Madinat Zayed - Madinat Zayed, 185 km
Monday: 2nd stage Hudayriyat Island - Abu Dhabi Breakwater, 173 km
Tuesday: 3rd stage Ajman - Ajman, 9 km (individual time trial)
Wednesday: 4th stage Fujairah Fort - Jebel Jais, 181 km
Thursday: 5th stage Ras al Khaimah Corniche - Al Marjan Island, 182 km
Friday: Stage 6 Expo 2020 Dubai - Expo 2020 Dubai, 180 km
Saturday: 7th stage Al Ain - Jebel Hafeet, 148 km
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Palmares:
2021: Tadej Pogacar (SLO)
2020: Adam Yates (GBR)
2019: Primoz Roglic (SLO)
© 2022 AFP