Peter Sagan will be in action for the first time since winning the World Championships two weeks ago, as he lines up for the first stage of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour today.

Lining up alongside Sagan will be Daniele Bennati, Matteo Tosatto, Juraj Sagan, Manuele Boaro and Bruno Pires. Three out of the four stages are expected to come down to a bunch sprint, and Sagan will be hopeful of getting off to a winning start in the rainbow jersey.

“I am intrigued by this new race in Abu Dhabi and it is always nice for the sport of cycling to visit new places and reach new fans. It will be my first race wearing the World Champion jersey and I will do my best to honour it,” said Sagan.

Directeur Sportif Tristan Hoffman outlined what the team’s goals are:

“Our ambition is to win a stage with Peter Sagan. This race concludes the 2015 season and we enter it with hopes of making our mark on the action. It will not only be nice to win here but it will also be a special occasion, as it’s the first time that Peter will ride in his rainbow jersey.”

“If we can win, that’s another question – the competition is hard and many riders want to finish the season with a win. However, Peter has a first class lead-out man in Bennati and the team is motivated,” said Hoffman before adding:

“Stage 1,2 and 4 are mainly flat, while stage 3 finishes on top of a hard climb. On the flat stages, we have to be aware of any crosswind, as there are a lot of kilometers in the dessert with open terrain. If there’s wind, the flat stages can become very hard.”

“We have to be at the front of the action but we’ll see how our exact approach will be depending on how the stages evolve. Stage 2 starts at the Yas Marina Formula 1 circuit, which is pretty cool but we naturally have our focus on the stage finishes.”

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