The UAE Tour is the desert stage race that has become a serious early-season target for the Grand Tour contenders. Formed in 2019 from the merger of the Abu Dhabi Tour and the Dubai Tour, it mixes flat sprint stages, where crosswinds can tear the race apart, with summit finishes on Jebel Hafeet and Jebel Jais that settle the overall. Tadej Pogačar has already won it three times. The combination of sprint chaos and steep climbing makes it a complete test in only a week. In 2026 Isaac del Toro took the overall, another marker of UAE's strength in depth. It is the only WorldTour race in the Middle East.