UAE Team Emirates

UAE Team Emirates

Team information
UCI code	UAD
Registered	Italy (1991–2016) UAE (2017–present)
Founded	1990 (1990)
Discipline	Road
Status	UCI WorldTeam
Bicycles	Colnago
Components	Campagnolo
Website	Team home page
Key personnel
General manager	Giuseppe Saronni
Team manager(s)	Fabrizio Bontempi
Team name history
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994–1995 1996 1999–2002 2005 2003–2004 2006–2007 2008 2009 2010 2011–2012 2013–2016 2017 2017	Diana–Colnago–Animex Colnago–Lampre Lampre–Colnago Lampre–Polti Lampre–Panaria Panaria–Vinavil Lampre–Daikin Lampre Lampre–Caffita Lampre–Fondital Lampre Lampre–NGC Lampre–Farnese Vini Lampre–ISD Lampre–Merida UAE Abu Dhabi UAE Team Emirates
Jersey

UAE Team Emirates (UCI team code: UAE) is an Emirati road bicycle racing team. The team is a member of the UCI ProTour, and has been since the tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005. However the team was temporarily suspended from the ProTour in 2010, missing one ProTour event.^[1]

The team consists mostly of Italian riders: general manager Giuseppe Saronni was himself a famous professional cyclist and winner of 2 editions of the Giro d'Italia.

History

Following the tradition at Saeco, the team is well known for its publicity stunts. In the 2005 Giro d'Italia the team engaged in a press campaign Battaile d'Italia featuring their co-captains Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego.^[2] During a rest day of the Giro, the team elected to visit the Monza race track for a photo-op and some training sessions.

For the 2013 season the team will no longer be using Wilier bikes, but will now ride Merida bikes. Although Wilier had been contracted through to the end of the 2013 season, they cited that Lampre broke the terms and conditions of the contract, and terminated their technical sponsorship.^[3]

Transition from an Italian-based team

Chinese involvement

In August 2016 the team confirmed that its WorldTeam licence was being transferred from CGS Cycling to Chinese company TJ Sport Consultation, with the team becoming the first Chinese WorldTour team from 2017. Former Saunier Duval–Prodir team manager Mauro Gianetti was announced as the co-ordinator for the project.^[4] In an interview with Gazetta dello Sport the following month, Saronni confirmed that he and CGS Cycling would continue to manage the team on TJ Sport's behalf, and that the team's bicycles would be supplied by Colnago. He indicated that the project was being co-ordinated by the Chinese government via TJ Sport with involvement from a number of Chinese companies including Alibaba, and that its aim was to develop Chinese cycling and riders.^[5] However when the UCI awarded 17 WorldTour licences to teams in November, it announced that TJ Sport's application was "under review" by its Licensing Commission.^[6] According to Saronni, the reason for the delay was that the head of the TJ Sport project, Li Zhiqiang, had fallen seriously ill, which prevented funding for the project from being confirmed.

Emirati rescue

As a result, the team looked elsewhere for sponsorship, securing funding from the United Arab Emirates and changing its name to UAE Abu Dhabi. The UCI confirmed the team's WorldTour licence on 20 December.^[7] In February 2017, the team announced that airline Emirates had signed on with the team as a naming-rights sponsor. The team will subsequently be known as: UAE Team Emirates.^[8] In June 2017, two days before the 2017 Tour de France the team announced it would also be sponsored by the First Abu Dhabi Bank, an amalgamation of the First Gulf Bank and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, with their logo being added to the chest and side of the team's jersey.^[9]

Team roster

Rider Date of birth  Anass Aït El Abdia (MAR) (1993-03-21) 21 March 1993  Darwin Atapuma (COL) (1988-01-15) 15 January 1988  Matteo Bono (ITA) (1983-11-11) 11 November 1983  Simone Consonni (ITA) (1994-09-12) 12 September 1994  Valerio Conti (ITA) (1993-03-30) 30 March 1993  Rui Costa (POR) (1986-10-05) 5 October 1986  Kristijan Đurasek (CRO) (1987-07-26) 26 July 1987  Roberto Ferrari (ITA) (1983-03-09) 9 March 1983  Filippo Ganna (ITA) (1996-07-25) 25 July 1996  Andrea Guardini (ITA) (1989-06-12) 12 June 1989  Marko Kump (SLO) (1988-09-09) 9 September 1988  Vegard Stake Laengen (NOR) (1989-02-07) 7 February 1989  Marco Marcato (ITA) (1984-02-11) 11 February 1984

Rider Date of birth  Louis Meintjes (RSA) (1992-02-21) 21 February 1992  Yousif Mirza (UAE) (1988-10-08) 8 October 1988  Sacha Modolo (ITA) (1987-06-19) 19 June 1987  Matej Mohorič (SLO) (1994-10-19) 19 October 1994  Manuele Mori (ITA) (1980-08-09) 9 August 1980  Przemysław Niemiec (POL) (1980-04-11) 11 April 1980  Simone Petilli (ITA) (1993-05-04) 4 May 1993  Jan Polanc (SLO) (1992-05-06) 6 May 1992  Edward Ravasi (ITA) (1994-06-05) 5 June 1994  Ben Swift (GBR) (1987-11-05) 5 November 1987  Oliviero Troia (ITA) (1994-09-01) 1 September 1994  Diego Ulissi (ITA) (1989-07-15) 15 July 1989  Federico Zurlo (ITA) (1994-02-25) 25 February 1994

Major results

National champions

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lampre–Merida.

• Official website