UAE Tour 2021 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE]

February 27, 2021

UAE Tour 2021 – Stage 7 – Yas Mall – Abu Dhabi Breakwater : 147 km

The UAE Tour is now in its third year of existence following the merger of the shorter Dubai Tour and Abu Dhabi Tour, and, despite last year’s events, the depth of the field is largely in line with the preceding editions. All 19 WorldTour teams have made the trip to Gulf, together with 2020 Europe Tour winners Alpecin-Fenix.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) pipped Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) to the line in a bunch sprint to win the final stage of the UAE Tour.

Bennett was denied a third stage win by the Australian, who managed to grab his wheel in the finale, and come past him just before the finish line.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) successfully sealed the overall victory, after neutralising the threat posed by his main rival Adam Yates and his Ineos Grenadiers team in the crosswinds earlier in the stage.

Pogacar was one of around twenty riders who broke clear from the peloton at around 40km to go, opening a lead of 30 seconds before everything came back together.

In the sprint, Ewan benefited from the best lead-out his Lotto-Soudal team managed in the race. Even then, however, more great work from Bennett’s lead-out man Michael Morkov ensured the Irishman was best-place before the sprint started.

Ewan managed to surf a few wheels before landing on Bennett’s, moving past him on the right-hand side of the road once the sprint began, and claiming victory by a bike-length. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) was third.

Having missed out in all the sprints earlier in the race, with third on stage 4 his best finish so far, Ewan was under pressure to win today.

“We came here to win a stage, and there was only one more left, and my last few sprints were quite average. So there was a bit of pressure on me to have a good result today,” he said.

“The team went above and beyond and did such a great job. I got to the end in pretty good shape, and that allowed me to do a good sprint.

“Roger [Kluge] went left a little bit late and we started to get swamped already. Then I had to jump from his wheel quite early. But I saw Sam [Bennett] coming on the right with a fair bit of speed, and there was room for me to go. That was really the only way out, so I got past his wheel and was allowed to, and had a fair bit of speed.

“It was a bit of a relief. I haven’t been this far into the year without a win in my whole career. So it feels good to have a win before I go back to Europe and start my season there.”

The GC remained the same as it did at the start of the day, although there was a worry for Adam Yates when he went down in a crash. He suffered several cuts to his face, but his legs appeared to be fine, and he managed to finish in the peloton to seal second overall.

How it unfolded

On another pan flat parcours in the desert, beginning in Yas Mall island and finishing at Abu Dhabi, the only way it seemed likely that the GC could change was if the wind blew again.

The stage began formulaically enough, with three riders heading up the rode to form the day’s break: Samuele Battistella (Astana-Premier Tech), Matteo Sobrero (both Astana-Premier Tech) and Alexeys Brunel (Groupama-FDJ).

They built a lead that exceeded three minutes, before the peloton began working to bring them back.

At the first intermediate sprint of the day, David Dekker (Jumbo-Visma) claimed fourth place behind the three breakaway riders, to extend his lead in the points classification.

It had been a quiet day up until this point, but then, at 65km to go, the race burst into life as Ineos Grenadiers upped the pace to exploit the potential of the road’s changing of direction into crosswinds.

The effect was immediate, as echelons formed and a group no bigger than 20 riders broke clear.

Overall leader Tadej Pogacar and his main challenger Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) were among them, as were sprinters Calab Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep), but third overall Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and the green jersey David Dekker were less attentive, and found themselves in the trailing group.

The increased pace saw the day’s earlier three-man break swallowed up, and the new leading group opened a lead of around 30 seconds over the rest of the peloton.

EF Education-Nippo did most of the work in the chase, as they attempted to neutralise the situation to protect Neilson Powless’ fifth position on GC. Once other teams started offering some turns, and the gap began to come down, and with 45km to go, the lead group sat up, allowing both groups to rejoin.

Despite the calming of the citation, there was more drama at 41km to go as Adam Yates crashed near the front of the bunch. Yates suffered a cut to his face, but managed to eventually remount his bike and rejoin the peloton, which had slowed down to allow him and the other riders held up to catch up.

The action only ignited again on the approach to the final intermediate sprint of the day, when Powless shot out of the front of the peloton with a teammate in search of the bonus seconds that would see him leapfrog Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma) into fourth overall. He was unsuccessful, however, as Dekker took the maximum points, and helped his Jumbo-Visma teammate to finish the intermediate sprint behind him in second.

Not wanting to be involved in another crash, Ineos Grenadiers rode at the front of the peloton as the race approached the finishing sprint. And indeed there was another crash, as Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-Nippo) near the middle of the bunch.

Deceuninck-QuickStep took over at the front with 2.5km to ride, although faced competition from several other teams attempting to lead out their sprinters. Once again, though, it was Morkov who led the race as the finish line approached, although this time Sam Bennett couldn’t quite finish off the job in the final dash.

Results :
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 3:18:29
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
3 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious
4 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5 Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM
6 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
7 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R Citroën Team
8 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team BikeExchange
9 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
10 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech
11 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
12 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates
13 Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
14 David Dekker (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
15 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
16 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
17 Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Qhubeka Assos
19 Jack Bauer (NZl) Team BikeExchange
20 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Qhubeka Assos
21 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team
22 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
23 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep
24 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
25 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
26 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
27 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
28 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education-Nippo
29 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
30 Ruben Fernandez Andujar (Spa) Cofidis
31 Iñigo Elosegui Momeñe (Spa) Movistar Team
32 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
33 Chris Harper (Aus) Jumbo-Visma
34 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo
35 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
36 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R Citroën Team
37 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Team BikeExchange
38 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
39 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Team Qhubeka Assos
40 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
41 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Team BikeExchange
42 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
43 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma
44 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis
45 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team
46 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates
47 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
48 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
49 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
50 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
51 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
52 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Movistar Team
53 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
54 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
55 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
56 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana-Premier Tech
57 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
58 Mattias Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
59 Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ
60 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
61 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
62 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
63 Sergio Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Education-Nippo
64 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation
65 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Jumbo-Visma
66 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech
67 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
68 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
69 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education-Nippo
70 Kevin Colleoni (Ita) Team BikeExchange
71 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
72 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
73 Simone Petilli (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
74 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
75 Rafal Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
76 Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
77 Jaakko Hänninen (Fin) AG2R Citroën Team
78 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R Citroën Team
79 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
80 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
81 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
82 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
83 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
84 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious
85 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech
86 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious
87 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
88 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-up Nation
89 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team DSM
90 Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
91 Luke Rowe (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
92 Fred Wright (GBr) Bahrain Victorious
93 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
94 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers
95 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
96 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
97 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-Nippo
98 Jonathan Milan (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:25
99 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education-Nippo
100 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis
101 Harrison Sweeny (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:00:29
102 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
103 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
104 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
105 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM
106 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team DSM 0:00:33
107 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis
108 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis
109 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team DSM 0:00:36
110 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:00:42
111 Matteo Sobrero (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 0:00:44
112 Samuele Battistella (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech
113 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:47
114 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
115 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM 0:00:54
116 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:56
117 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:05
118 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:34
119 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 0:02:03
120 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious 0:03:05
121 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
122 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation
123 Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
124 Brandon Rivera Vargas (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
125 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:04:48
DNF Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
DNF Kaden Groves (Aus) Team BikeExchange

Final General Classification :
1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 24:00:28
2 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:35
3 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:02
4 Chris Harper (Aus) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:42
5 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:01:45
6 Mattias Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:37
7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:02:39
8 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:53
9 Ruben Fernandez Andujar (Spa) Cofidis 0:04:13
10 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:06:30
11 Sergio Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Education-Nippo 0:09:47
12 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:31
13 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation 0:10:37
14 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:10:45
15 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:10:52
16 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma 0:11:07
17 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:11:15
18 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:11:18
19 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious 0:11:27
20 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:11:37
21 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:11:45
22 Rafal Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates 0:12:05
23 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:12:09
24 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana-Premier Tech 0:12:34
25 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:13:05
26 Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:26
27 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education-Nippo 0:13:29
28 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis 0:14:06
29 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates 0:14:18
30 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:14:31
31 Samuele Battistella (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 0:14:45
32 Davide Villella (Ita) Movistar Team 0:15:31
33 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
34 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:15:38
35 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:15:53
36 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious 0:16:19
37 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:16:23
38 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:16:47
39 Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ 0:17:19
40 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:17:43
41 Jaakko Hänninen (Fin) AG2R Citroën Team 0:20:09
42 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:20:25
43 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Team BikeExchange 0:20:31
44 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:20:38
45 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM 0:21:22
46 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma
47 Chris Froome (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:22:00
48 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team DSM 0:22:02
49 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis 0:22:11
50 Matteo Sobrero (Ita) Astana-Premier Tech 0:22:16
51 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 0:22:43
52 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:23:15
53 Simone Petilli (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:24:27
54 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R Citroën Team 0:24:39
55 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:26:11
56 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R Citroën Team 0:26:32
57 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:26:53
58 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Jumbo-Visma 0:28:32
59 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team DSM 0:28:35
60 Brandon Rivera Vargas (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:28:58
61 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education-Nippo 0:29:02
62 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Movistar Team 0:29:53
63 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:31:49
64 Jack Bauer (NZl) Team BikeExchange 0:31:59
65 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R Citroën Team 0:33:28
66 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:33:29
67 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:33:37
68 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:34:55
69 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:35:04
70 David Dekker (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:35:15
71 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:36:10
72 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:36:12
73 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:36:17
74 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 0:36:19
75 Kevin Colleoni (Ita) Team BikeExchange 0:37:30
76 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:37:47
77 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis 0:37:56
78 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation 0:37:59
79 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:38:03
80 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation 0:38:20
81 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:38:25
82 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education-Nippo 0:38:47
83 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 0:39:13
84 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:39:17
85 Harrison Sweeny (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:39:19
86 Ivan Ramiro Sosa Cuervo (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:39:20
87 Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:39:21
88 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 0:39:38
89 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team BikeExchange 0:39:47
90 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Team BikeExchange 0:40:13
91 Iñigo Elosegui Momeñe (Spa) Movistar Team 0:40:45
92 Fred Wright (GBr) Bahrain Victorious 0:41:01
93 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates 0:42:30
94 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:42:38
95 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
96 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:42:40
97 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:42:41
98 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-Nippo 0:43:05
99 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:43:23
100 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:43:38
101 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-up Nation 0:43:54
102 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:44:09
103 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:45:09
104 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team DSM 0:46:08
105 Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 0:46:15
106 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:46:23
107 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:46:27
108 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:46:36
109 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:46:37
110 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:46:38
111 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:46:58
112 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:47:18
113 Jonathan Milan (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:47:41
114 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:47:56
115 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain Victorious 0:48:14
116 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:49:16
117 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team DSM 0:51:24
118 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-up Nation 0:51:47
119 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:52:08
120 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis 0:52:19
121 Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM 0:52:21
122 Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:54:50
123 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers 0:58:17
124 Luke Rowe (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:58:42
125 Harry Tanfield (GBr) Team Qhubeka Assos 1:06:04