Dubai Tour 2016 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

February 4, 2016

Dubai Tour 2016 – Stage 2 – Dubai – Palm Jameirah : 188 km

The 2016 Dubai Tour route sees the race once again return to Hatta Dam, the location where John Degenkolb took a famous stage win on the 17 per cent climb to the line. The race kicks off with a 179km stage between Dubai and Fujairah. Marcel Kittel (Ettix QuickStep) is expected lead his new team in the race, making his debut after leaving Giant Shimano at the end of 2015. If he can find his form he should feature among the favourites for the opening leader’s jersey. Stage 2 will see the race head to Palm Jameirah, as it did in 2015, when Elia Vivianni won the stage. The next stage climbs to Hatta Dam before the final stage that takes place in the centre of Dubai.

Elia Viviani added to a very successful day for team Sky with victory on a crash-effected second stage of the Dubai Tour. Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) claimed second with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) rounding out the podium. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) were put out of contention after a crash in the final kilometre leaving it to a small group to duke it out.

Viviani looked untouchable in the reduced bunch sprint after a strong leadout from Ben Swift. It the Italian’s first victory of the season after being beaten by the smallest of margins on the final stage of the Tour de San Luis, by his own leadout man Jakub Mareczko. That defeat had elicited an unusually strong reaction from Viviani, who refused to attend the podium ceremony

“I would have preferred to win last week in San Luis but I finished second and third there a few times but it is perfect to start the season well here. It’s really the same as the last years because I won my first race here in La Palma last year. Maybe it is a lucky race for me here,” Viviani said after the stage.

“Today we did a perfect leadout, yesterday we had some faults and we went too early and I was alone in the last kilometre. I needed to do a long sprint and I’m not competitive enough to beat some of the best sprinters this year. If I do the first sprint for position, then I lose any chance of winning the sprint for victory. Today we perfected some movements and Andy Fenn and Swift did a perfect leadout for me. We came out of the tunnel really fast in the first positions. Andy and Swifty took me to 200 metres to go and I have to say thanks to the team for a perfect job. “

A crash at the mouth of a tunnel with a kilometre remaining all but ended the hopes of the pre-stage favourites, Cavendish and Kittel. The crash appeared to be sparked by a touch of wheels with a Trek-Segafredo rider going down. While Cavendish was able to fight back into the leading group, the efforts showed and he came home in 10th. Kittel didn’t have such luck and rolled in well down on the group.

Viviani’s victory made him the new race leader with Kittel keeping second place, due to the crash being inside the three-kilometre mark.

How it happened

The second stage of the Dubai Tour began in the surroundings of the Dubai International Marine Club. The day would be five kilometres shorter than had been billed in the roadbook with roadworks forcing the late change. Kittel looked relaxed in the blue of the leader’s jersey after taking an emphatic victory on the opening day of the race.

Polish rider Marcin Bialoblocki kicked off the action with an attack after just five kilometres of racing. He was soon joined by Silvan Dillier (BMC), Koen de Kort (Giant-Alpecin) and Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai) to form the four-man group that would spend most of the day out front. The quartet was allowed to hang out front, but was never given much rope and their maximum advantage extended to just over two minutes.

Bialoblocki made the most of his time out ahead of the bunch by taking the intermediate sprints ensuring his place in a classification jersey for stage 3.

Behind the four leaders, the peloton took a slightly more relaxed approach to the day riding a marginally slower average speed of 44kph compared to stage one. The team of race leader Kittel, Etixx-QuickStep was ever-present on the front of the bunch assuming full control of proceedings. Cavendish’s Dimension Data team were happy to let the Belgian squad do most of the work but sent Songezo Jim up to ensure some sort of presence at the front.

With just over 20 kilometres to go, the strain began to show on the escapees and Bialoblocki put in a small dig to test his companions. After an attempt to get away much earlier in the day, Mancebo attacked with 15 kilometres to go to make him the last man in the break standing as his fellow escapees were brought back in by the peloton. Mancebo would finally have to accept defeat with just over 10 kilometres to go.

Going into the final 10 kilometres, Bialoblocki didn’t renege on his team duties despite having spent the day in the break and helped pull along a One Pro Cycling train at the head of the peloton. As the group sped along the seafront, all of the key teams had riders at the front preparing themselves for the inevitable bunch sprint on the Palm Jumeirah. Bradley Wiggins doesn’t have any personal ambitions but he made a brief appearance on the front with two kilometres to go before pulling off and rolling home.

A crash near the exit of the tunnel with just over a kilometre to go disrupted the sprint and appeared to effect Kittel and Cavendish. Team Sky managed to avoid the incident and delivered Viviani to the line perfectly, with Modolo chasing in his wheel for second place.

Results :
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 4:07:39
2 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre – Merida
3 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
4 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
5 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
6 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
7 Michal Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff Team
8 Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
9 Chris Opie (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
10 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
11 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
12 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
13 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team
14 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
15 Yanto Barker (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
16 Christopher Latham (GBr) Team Wiggins
17 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
18 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team
19 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
20 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
21 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
22 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step
23 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff Team
24 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step
25 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
26 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team
27 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
28 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida
29 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
30 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky
31 Tomasz Kiendys (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
32 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
33 Michael Gogl (Aut) Tinkoff Team
34 Adrian Honkisz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
35 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
36 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre – Merida
37 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
38 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin
39 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
40 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Astana Pro Team
41 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
42 Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre – Merida
43 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
44 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
45 Nicolas Lefrancois (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
46 Jesus Alberto Rubio (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
47 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
48 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
49 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
50 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
51 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step
52 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
53 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
54 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
55 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
56 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
57 Soufiane Haddi (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
58 Yousif Mirza (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
59 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
60 Sebastian Lander (Den) ONE Pro Cycling
61 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team
62 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff Team
63 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
64 Adrian Kurek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
65 Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
66 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
67 Caleb Fairly (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
68 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
69 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff Team
70 Daniel Patten (GBr) Team Wiggins
71 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
72 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling
73 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
74 Simone Petilli (Ita) Lampre – Merida
75 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
76 Sindre Skjoestad Lunke (Nor) Team Giant-Alpecin
77 Valerio Conti (Ita) Lampre – Merida
78 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
79 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data
80 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
81 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
82 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
83 Ibrahim Al Ali (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
84 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk
85 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Lampre – Merida
86 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre – Merida
87 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
88 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Team Wiggins
89 Ivan Santaromita (Swi) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
90 Kamberaj Xhuliano (Alb) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
91 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
92 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Trek-Segafredo
93 Adil Jelloul (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:01:12
94 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
95 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team
96 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
97 Javier Megias Leal (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
98 Ahmed Almansouri (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
99 Carter Jones (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:45
100 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step
101 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky
102 Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff Team
103 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
104 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Wiggins
105 Martin Mortensen (Den) ONE Pro Cycling
106 Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
107 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step
108 Jaber Almansoori (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
109 Liam Holohan (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:02:12
110 Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
111 Essaid Abelouache (Mar) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
112 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) ONE Pro Cycling
113 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data 0:02:30
114 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Wiggins
115 Songezo Jim (RSA) Dimension Data 0:02:32
116 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
117 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
118 Mark Christian (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:02:54
119 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:03:45
120 Tariq Obaid (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:03:47
121 Majid Albalushi (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
122 Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:57
123 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:03:59
124 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 7:42:50
2 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step
3 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:02
4 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:00:04
5 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
6 Soufiane Haddi (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:00:09
7 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:10
8 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
9 Michal Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff Team
10 Chris Opie (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
11 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
12 Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
13 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
14 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team
15 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team
16 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
17 Michael Gogl (Aut) Tinkoff Team
18 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin
19 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:11
20 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:13
21 Jesus Alberto Rubio (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
22 Christopher Latham (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:00:15
23 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
24 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
25 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Tinkoff Team
26 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
27 Luca Wackermann (Ita) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
28 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team
29 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin
30 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step
31 Tomasz Kiendys (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
32 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
33 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step
34 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Lampre – Merida
35 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff Team
36 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
37 Yanto Barker (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
38 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
39 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Astana Pro Team
40 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
41 Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
42 Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre – Merida
43 Yousif Mirza (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
44 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
45 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
46 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
47 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
48 Manuel Senni (Ita) BMC Racing Team
49 Adrian Honkisz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
50 Adrian Kurek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
51 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
52 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
53 Kamberaj Xhuliano (Alb) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
54 Sebastian Lander (Den) ONE Pro Cycling
55 Caleb Fairly (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
56 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
57 Peter Williams (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
58 Valerio Conti (Ita) Lampre – Merida
59 Essaid Abelouache (Mar) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
60 Hayden Mccormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
61 Jaber Almansoori (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
62 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
63 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
64 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
65 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Team Sky
66 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling 0:00:17
67 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:24
68 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:00:26
69 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
70 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
71 Nicolas Lefrancois (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
72 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
73 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
74 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff Team
75 Daniel Patten (GBr) Team Wiggins
76 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
77 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
78 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
79 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
80 Simone Petilli (Ita) Lampre – Merida
81 Stephen Clancy (Irl) Team Novo Nordisk
82 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
83 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
84 Sindre Skjoestad Lunke (Nor) Team Giant-Alpecin
85 Ivan Santaromita (Swi) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club
86 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Dimension Data
87 Javier Megias Leal (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
88 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre – Merida
89 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
90 Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff Team
91 Grégory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
92 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) ONE Pro Cycling
93 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:00:34
94 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
95 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:36
96 Chun Kai Feng (Tpe) Lampre – Merida 0:00:44
97 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step
98 Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:55
99 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:57
100 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:00:59
101 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
102 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:10
103 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:01:12
104 Adil Jelloul (Mar) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:01:27
105 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:32
106 Ibrahim Al Ali (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:01:54
107 Martin Mortensen (Den) ONE Pro Cycling 0:02:23
108 Liam Holohan (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:02:27
109 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:02:45
110 Carter Jones (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:02:49
111 Mark Christian (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:03:20
112 Ahmed Almansouri (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai 0:03:33
113 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:03:38
114 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Wiggins
115 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
116 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:04:00
117 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data 0:04:13
118 Majid Albalushi (UAE) Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai
119 Julien Vermote (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:04:25
120 Matt Brammeier (Irl) Dimension Data 0:05:17
121 Songezo Jim (RSA) Dimension Data 0:05:19
122 Nicolas Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:05:32
123 Tariq Obaid (UAE) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 0:05:54
124 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:06:22