The UAE Tour is set to take place February 20-26, with Tadej Pogachal and Eoghan Bernal expected to clash in the first World Tour race of the season.

While the Tour Down Under and the Vuelta a San Juan were cancelled due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the UAE Tour will take place, and the seven-day race will include three sprints and an echelon chance, a 9km time trial, a finish atop Jebel Jaisse and a final mountain stage to the summit of Jebel Hafeet.

Vaccination is mandatory in Abu Dhabi due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the United Arab Emirates. The race will respect new UCI medical protocols, including "non-medical" measures against COVID-19 (wearing masks, disinfection of facilities, pre-race PCR testing, etc.), which came into effect in 2020.

The UCI also hopes to roll out a "UCI Health Pass" to convince teams with low vaccination rates to get everyone vaccinated: in December, the UCI announced that 97% of women's world team members, 79% of men's world team members, and 86% of men's pro team members, and 86% of the men's professional team members have been vaccinated. However, some teams had vaccination rates as low as 40%.

The 2020 UAE Tour was one of the first races to be hit by the pandemic, with riders and staff from Groupama-FDJ, Cofidis, Gazprom-RusVelo, and UAE Team Emirates forced to be quarantined after the final stage was cancelled

Abu Dhabi.

When the race route and jerseys were officially announced, Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Aref Al Awani, thanked "the authorities concerned for their sincere efforts and for overseeing the application of precautions for the safety and health of all."

." Once again, we welcome the world's elite teams and riders to the launch of the UCI's agenda of global races, and we hope that the UAE Tour will be the gateway to the start of the season."

Pogachar won the 2021 UAE Tour, and the race is again a major goal for the Slovenian, who will make his 2022 season debut. He will be supported by his new UAE Team Emirates teammates Geroge Bennett and Joan Almeida as he aims to win his second home race in as many years.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Egan Bernal will lead Ineos Grenadier in the UAE Tour, with Filippo Ganna in the time trial and Elia Viviani in the sprint. Tom Dumoulin will lead Jumbo Visma, while Sam Bennett and Alexandre Vlasov will showcase the new colors of Bora-Hansgrohe. Other sprinters include Caleb Yuan (Lotto Soudal), Dylan Groenewegen (Bike Exchange - Jayco), and Mark Cavendish (Quick Step - Alphavinyl).

Bernal is currently training in the highlands of Colombia, but is expected to make his season debut at the four-day Tour de la Provence (February 10-13) before moving on to the UAE Tour.

Bernal and Pogachar have rarely clashed in major races, but their careers are very similar and prodigious. Bernal won the 2019 Tour de France at the tender age of 22, while Pogachar won the 2020 Tour, one day before his 22nd birthday, as Bernal suffered a back injury. Bernal won the 2021 Giro d'Italia, and Pogachar won his second Tour last summer.

The UAE Tour could be the first in a series of battles before the two leaders and their "super teams" go head-to-head in the Tour de France.