Abu Dhabi Tour 2018 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

February 21, 2018

Abu Dhabi Tour 2018 – Stage 1 – Madinat Zayed – Madinat Zayed : 189 km

The 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour is a road cycling stage race that is taking place between 21 and 25 February 2018 in Abu Dhabi. It is the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour and the third event of the 2018 UCI World Tour.

Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) came out on top on stage 1 of the Abu Dhabi Tour. The European road champion came off Caleb Ewan’s (Mitchelton-Scott) wheel in the final 100 metres and held off a late challenge from Andrea Guardini (Bardiani CSF).

Ewan looked to have the win in the bag but faded to third on the stage.

Kristoff looked out of it with 200m to go but jumped from behind Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) onto Ewan’s tail before powering to the line. Despite a headwind, the Norwegian had enough in the tank to take the win by a clear margin.

Kittel, who came into the race without a win so far this season, looked well-placed but was crowded out in the sprint and went backwards as the rest of the fast-men opened up towards the line.

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) crashed out of the race in the neutralized zone, suffering concussion and whiplash. The British sprinter remounted and carried on for the opening few kilometres before pulling out of the race.

Kristoff, who also won the final stage of the Tour of Oman, leads the race going into stage 2.

“In the final I lost my rhythm and I lost [lead-out man Robertro] Ferrari, but then I found Caleb Ewan in the end and I know he’s fast,” Kristoff said at the finish. “He started to really go for the sprint but I was in the draft and then managed to come round and hold on in the headwind all the way to the line.

“It’s a great win for me and the team, on home ground. It takes the pressure off now and it’s a really nice feeling. I’m really proud to get the win, my second win of the season. It’s a great feeling to start off like this in a new team.”

Cavendish’s fall overshadowed the opening of the stage. The Dimension Data rider came down when the official race car appeared to tap on the brakes. This caused several riders to slow, with Cavendish one of the first to hit the ground. He gingerly got to his feet and briefly carried on before pulling over to the side of the road and leaving the race.

When the race flag did drop, however, there was no shortage of attacks and Nikolay Trusov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing Team), Vincenzo Albanese (Bardiani CSF), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) and Charles Planet (Team Novo Nordisk) slipped clear.

The quintet never established a threatening lead, with the sprinters’ teams controlling the race throughout.

Skujins attacked before second intermediate sprint with 60km to go but the break regrouped less than 10km later with their advantage down to 1:31. Albanese, Caruso, Skujins, and Planet left Trusov as the peloton began to mount a faster chase, with Quick-Step Floors neo-pro James Knox a constant presence on the front of the bunch.

Caruso was the last man standing when he left Planet with 20km to go but even the talented Italian couldn’t hold off the inevitable. With 13km to go the bunch was one, although the pace eased as the sprint teams began to organise their affairs.

LottoNL-Jumbo and Quick-Step were heavily involved in the finale but, despite a fragmented lead-out, it was Kristoff who claimed his second win in two race days.

Results :
1 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 4:48:24
2 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
5 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
6 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
7 Michael Bresciani (Ita) Bardiani CSF
8 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
9 Rudy Barbier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
10 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
11 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
12 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
13 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
14 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Sky
15 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
16 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
17 Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
18 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
19 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
20 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
21 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
22 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
23 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data
24 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
25 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
26 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
27 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
28 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
29 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
30 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
31 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
32 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
33 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
34 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
35 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
36 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
37 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
38 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
39 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
40 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
41 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
42 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
43 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
44 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
45 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Bardiani CSF
46 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
47 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
48 Marco Maronese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
49 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF
50 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
51 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
52 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
53 Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
54 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
55 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
56 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
57 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
58 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar Team
59 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
60 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
61 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
62 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
63 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
64 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
65 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
66 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
67 Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team
68 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
69 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
70 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
71 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
72 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
73 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
74 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
75 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky
76 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
77 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky
78 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
79 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
80 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
81 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
82 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
83 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
84 Daniel Moreno (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
85 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
86 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
87 Jos van Emden (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
88 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
89 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
90 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
91 Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
92 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
93 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
94 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
95 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
96 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
97 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
98 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
99 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
100 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
101 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
102 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
103 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
104 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Trek-Segafredo
105 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
106 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
107 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
108 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
109 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
110 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
111 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
112 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
113 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
114 Pierre Rolland (Fra) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
115 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
116 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
117 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
118 Hendrikus van Ijzendoorn (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
119 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
120 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Movistar Team
121 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
122 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
123 Svein Tuft (Can) Mitchelton-Scott
124 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
125 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
126 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:15
127 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:19
128 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:21
129 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
130 Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:24
131 Roger Kluge (Ger) Mitchelton-Scott
132 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:37
133 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:50
134 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:01:13
135 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:56
136 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:57
137 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:00
DNS Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 4:48:14
2 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:04
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:06
4 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
5 Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
6 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:07
7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:09
8 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:10
9 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
10 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
11 Michael Bresciani (Ita) Bardiani CSF
12 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
13 Rudy Barbier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
14 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
15 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
16 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
18 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Sky
19 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
20 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
21 Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
22 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
23 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
24 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
25 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
26 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
27 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data
28 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
29 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
30 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
31 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
32 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
33 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
34 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
35 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
36 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
37 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
38 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
39 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
40 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Mitchelton-Scott
41 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
42 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
43 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
44 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
45 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
46 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
47 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
48 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Bardiani CSF
49 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
50 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
51 Marco Maronese (Ita) Bardiani CSF
52 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF
53 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
54 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
55 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
56 Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
57 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
58 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
59 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
60 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
61 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Movistar Team
62 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
63 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
64 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
65 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
66 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
67 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
68 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
69 Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team
70 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
71 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
72 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
73 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
74 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
75 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
76 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
77 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky
78 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
79 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky
80 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
81 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
82 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
83 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
84 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
85 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
86 Daniel Moreno (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
87 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
88 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
89 Jos van Emden (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
90 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
91 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
92 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
93 Kim Magnusson (Swe) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
94 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
95 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
96 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
97 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
98 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
99 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
100 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
101 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
102 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
103 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
104 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
105 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
106 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Trek-Segafredo
107 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
108 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
109 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
110 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
111 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
112 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
113 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
114 Pierre Rolland (Fra) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
115 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
116 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
117 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
118 Hendrikus van Ijzendoorn (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
119 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
120 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Movistar Team
121 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
122 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
123 Svein Tuft (Can) Mitchelton-Scott
124 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
125 Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
126 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:25
127 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:29
128 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:31
129 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
130 Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:34
131 Roger Kluge (Ger) Mitchelton-Scott
132 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:47
133 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:00
134 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:01:23
135 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:06
136 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:07
137 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:10