Emirates Motor Company (EMC), the authorised Mercedes-Benz distributor in Abu Dhabi, UAE and the flagship company of Al Fahim Group, will be sponsoring The Abu Dhabi Tour, the world-class cycling event for the third year in a row.

EMC will be providing 70 vehicles from its exclusive range to the event, the majority of which will be used as support vehicles during the four-day race.

The Abu Dhabi Tour completes an impressive hat-trick of sporting sponsorships in the capital for EMC following the Mubadala Tennis Championship and the HSBC Championship, in December and January, respectively.

Along with providing cars, EMC will be celebrating the sponsorship by setting up a stand at the fanzone at Nation Towers where the stunning E43 AMG will be on display. It will also be running a competition on its social media pages offering cycling fans a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Mark Cavendish where they will be able to ask him all their burning questions.

The Abu Dhabi Tour, scheduled from February 23 to 26 and organised by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council in collaboration with RCS Sport, gained World Tour status in 2016 and is the only Middle Eastern race on the 2017 UCI World Tour calendar.

Frank Bernthaler, CEO of Al Fahim Automotive, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be sponsoring the Abu Dhabi Tour event again and look forward to seeing our Mercedes-Benz vehicles taking center stage alongside the best riders in the world.

“The way this event has grown in recent years has been hugely impressive and it certainly deserves its World Tour Status. We are proud to have been part of that journey and look forward to our successful partnership continuing in future.”

Ramez Youssef, head of Marketing and Communications at Al Fahim Group said: “EMC is committed to working alongside our partner, the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, to improve the lives of the community at large. Sponsoring global events such as the Abu Dhabi Tour is one important pillar to that commitment, but we also work on smaller grassroots community events to help promote healthy lifestyles and to encourage people to improve their lives.”

The Abu Dhabi Tour will see 16 UCI World Teams and four UCI Professional Continental Teams, each consisting of eight riders, battle it out over four gruelling stages.

Many of the best riders on the planet have confirmed their participation in the race, with names such as previous Giro d’Italia and last Vuelta winner Nairo Quintana, Tour de France runner up Romain Bardet, previous Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana winner Vincenzo Nibali, former Vuelta winner Fabio Aru and a number of other top-class contenders for the final General Classification victory.

Among the sprinters we’ll see the very finest from the World Tour peloton going shoulder-to-shoulder, wheel-to-wheel, including the Manxman Mark Cavendish, German duo Marcel Kittel and André Greipel and the new Australian sensation Caleb Ewan. – TradeArabia News Service