DOHA: Talented Italian rider Andrea Palini and promising Spainish cyclist Jose Manuel Gutierrez Revuelta will be looking to grab early advantage on the opening day at the 3.3km prologue of the four-day Tour of Zubarah.

Palini ranked number two on UCI’s Asia Tour and Revuelta the Best Young Rider at Tour of Sharjah will get an early feel of the traditional high speed winds when cyclists of 14 teams tackle the prologue at Aspire Zone today.

Qatar’s four-member team will be one of two sides from Doha along with Carbon Wheels to feature at the four-day event in which riders will complete a total distance of 3728kms CEO of Tour of Zubarah Ahmed Al Hamaidi said yesterday.

National teams of Bahrain Saudi Arabia Kuwait and Kazakhstan will join Team Giant RBS Pisghaman Giant Team Wilton Cycling Team Veloclub Sovac Achieve Northside Skinnergate Team NRW Skydive Dubai and Sharjah Team.

Qatar’s most experienced rider Ahmed Bassam Al Bourdainy - who won the final stage of the 14th GCC Cycling Championship on Sunday - will ride for Sharjah Team Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF) official Andrej Filip said yesterday.

Tomorrow’s second stage will see riders starting at Al Thakira Youth Centre before winding down at Madinat Al Shamal in the north of the country. The second stage will have a total distance of 1299kms.

The third stage will riders taking off from the Camel Race Track before closing out the stage at Dukhan beach front in the west of Qatar. The third stage will cover a distance of 1198kms.

The fourth and final day of the event will see cyclists pedalling from starting point in Simaisma Youth Centre before they finish the Tour at Zubarah Fort. The last stage will cover a distance of 1198kms Filip said.

QCF official Jamal Al Kuwari said: “This year we will have a new champion since last year’s winner Yusuf Mohamed Mirza of the UAE will not defend his title.”

Organised by QCF under the presidency of Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Thani the race will see its third edition.

“The event is becoming bigger and more interesting with each passing year” Al Hamaidi said.

“The exciting routes during the four-day competitions promote Qatar’s rich historic past. The final day of the race will be the most exciting since we end the event at Zubarah Fort” he added.

Filip said: “We have a very tactical route set up for the riders. Qatar’s National Day also falls during the course of the event. So we expect quite a lot of fans coming to watch the riders in action.”

Unlike Tour of Qatar fans will be able to see Qatar’s National team riders battling it out with international cast of teams from different parts of the world.

The sponsors of the race are Aspire Zone Royal Air Maroc and Rayyan Water.

The race can be followed on www.zubarahtour.com and facebook page fb.com/zubarahtour Filip said.

Next year from October 9 to 16 Qatar will host the UCI Road World Championships.

Qatar by will be the first country in the Middle East & the Arab World and the second in the Asian world after Japan to have such an event. The organising committee of the event has optimised the course design to introduce challenging technical elements and create the best possible race conditions with highly competitive four parkours.

The event consists of a road race a team time trial and a time trial for elite men and women and a road race and a time trial for men under-23 junior men and junior women.

It will be the 89th UCI Road World Championships.

The race will start and finish in Doha.

The Peninsula