Six UAE Team Emirates riders will feature at the inaugural Colorado Classic race from August 10 – 13, 2017. Making his race debut, Emirati rider Yousif Mirza will be joined by Italian riders Simone Petilli, Edward Ravasi and SeidLizde – a young trainee joining UAE Team Emirates from team Colpack for the second part of the season – and NorweigianVegard Stake Laengen.

Confirming the line-up, UAE Team Emirates’ Sporting Director Mario Scirea said: “The race will include a lot of climbing and we anticipate each day to have its own set of challenges. For the Colorado Classic we will be relying on three of our young Italian climbers who are eager to race and build on their careers: Conti, Petilli and Ravasi. They will try to play pivotal roles during the stages and if successful they will be able to fight for good GC positions. In the lead up to the climbs they will depend on support from Mirza, Laengen and Lizde who is making his debut with our team as an intern.”

Commenting on his Colorado Classic debut, Italian rider Valerio Conti said: “I am excited about racing at the Colorado Classic for the first time. I’ve had a look at the route and it looks pretty gruelling as every single stage includes numerous high altitude climbs! I think this race will be a great opportunity to show off my form and put to test all the high altitude training I have received recently. I would like to aim for a good position in the GC so let’s see how it all unfolds.”

The inaugural race will consist of four stages, all of them coming with their own set of challenges. The race has numerous high altitude climbs with winding routes varying from 1580 metres to 3100 metres above sea level. The final stage, hosted by state captial Denver, is a uniuqe 12km circuit that riders will have to complete a total of 10 times in what should be a thrilling day of racing.