Ethan Hayter and Ilan Van Wilder will start their season at the 2026 UAE Tour, the third World Tour race of the year.
The UAE Tour became part of the World Tour in 2019, and since then, Soudal Quick Step has won the GC on one occasion and a total of twelve stages, making the team one of the most successful in the short history of the event.
This year, the squad returns to take on a parcours featuring many flat stages, where the wind could end up playing an important role, thus altering the dynamic and the outcome. An individual time trial of 12.2 kilometers on the Al Hudayriyat Island will create the first gaps between the overall contenders, but the main showdown between these is set to take place on the race’s two summit finishes: Jebel Mobrah – a long climb with gruesome gradients in the last kilometers, which makes its debut – and Jebel Hafeet.
Soudal Quick-Step will go to the eighth edition of the UAE Tour with a strong team that comprises Ayco Bastiaens, Alberto Dainese, British ITT Champion Ethan Hayter, Junior Lecerf, Warre Vangheluwe, Bert Van Lerberghe, and World ITT Championships bronze medalist Ilan Van Wilder.
“We have a good and very motivated squad for this World Tour race. Ilan finished fourth here two years ago and comes with GC ambitions, but also Junior can try something. Ilan, together with Ethan, will aim to do a good individual time trial, while Alberto is going to be our man for the bunch sprints, guided by Bert Van Lerberghe”, said sports director Geert Van Bondt. “The parcours brings a new and very demanding climb, with sections of 17%, where we’ll get a better picture of the GC, before tackling Jebel Hafeet on the penultimate day, an ascent that we know well and where everything will be decided.”
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