Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team riders Mark Cavendish and Tony Martin met with the media for the Dubai Tour press conference on Tuesday, discussing everything from the race itself to the opportunity to race in Dubai for the first time in UCI Asia Tour history.
Mark Cavendish
On Dubai Tour:
"We've got a strong team here with Tony Martin being the guy for the first time trial," Cavendish said. "If Tony could be the leader for Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team after the first trial it could put us in good position. But otherwise we'd like to go for the three sprint stages. These are short flat stages that really suit the sprint teams. So given the types of stages here at Dubai Tour, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step has a strong team here. We have a chance to win every stage here and I'm looking forward to see what we can do. It's very windy here, you have to know how to ride in the wind and my team is very good at it as we're from Belgium. So, that should play into our hands a bit here. I'm also happy with Mark Renshaw and Alessandro Petacchi being here, possibly the two best leadout men in the world. I'm anxious to see what we can do at Dubai Tour."
On racing in Dubai for the first time:
"As for Dubai, I like it," Cavendish said. "It's the third race here in the middle east for pro riders along with Qatar and Oman. I've come to Dubai for holiday so I really like it here. We've got some good riders here as well. It's good racing, it will be good competition in a beautiful setting and it's globalizing cycling."
Tony Martin:
On the Dubai Tour:
"I'm really looking forward to racing here," Martin said. "The race will be nice. It will be a really nice organization, especially the first stage that will suit me. It's a very fast event between the short time trials and flat stages and the weather will be fine. So, I think it will be very good racing. As for the possibility of wind, I don't hope for so much for it. I expect less wind than in Qatar or somewhere else. But for sure there will be very wide roads, so we'll have to see how the conditions will be in the next days. I'm really impressed with all the big names here. For a first edition of the Dubai Tour, for sure this will be a big race very early in the season."
