Dubai Tour 2018 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

February 09, 2018

Dubai Tour 2018 – Stage 4 – Skydive Dubai – Hatta Dam : 172 km

The Dubai Tour is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Dubai, which began in 2014 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. The race was classified as a 2.1. in 2013. The race is organized by the Dubai Sports Council in partnership with RCS Sport, and was held for the first time between 5 and 8 February 2014. The race is a men’s competition consisting of four stages. The race contains mainly flat stages, with some hillier parts. In 2015, the second edition of the race has been upgraded to 2.HC, meaning that more UCI World Tour teams can compete in the event.

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) came out on top in a nail-biting finish to win stage 4 of the Dubai Tour atop Hatta Dam. The Italian used his team perfectly before sprinting to the top of the climb ahead of Magnus Cort (Astana) and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo).

The finish saw the peloton overhaul lone leader Brandon McNulty (Rally Cycling) with just a few hundred meters to go. The 19-year-old was the last man standing from the day’s break and looked to be heading for an incredible victory before he finally cracked on the climb to the line. The American lost almost 45 seconds on the last incline with Colbrelli taking his first win of the season.

Overnight leader Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) finished with the main field and retained his lead with one stage remaining. Cort sits second overall at two seconds, with Colbrelli up to third, four seconds down on Viviani’s lead.

“I think it is not the finish,” Viviani said at the line. “I only have two seconds on Cort Nielson, and you’ve seen how strong he is. I think that it is going to be an interesting day tomorrow. We have a strong team, we saw today with what Niki [Terpstra] and Lampy [Yves Lampaert] did in the last bit to close the breakaway. I’m happy with the result because the goal was to defend the jersey and be there.

“I can’t do more than this. I can’t really stay with Colbrelli. When he went, I felt the legs get tight and I just tried to arrive and not give a gap in the middle of the riders. Cort Nielson is really close but we have the guys to control. The good thing is that Cav and Kittel are not really close. We can control it tomorrow. I think I have the team to do that and I just have to do my best sprint. It is another chance to win a stage.”

After three sprint finishes Rally Cycling took the race by the scruff of the neck, and almost stunned the WorldTour teams. They sent two riders up the road in the early break, with time trial talent McNulty joined by teammate Robin Carpenter, Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport), Christopher Williams (Novo Nordisk), Sun Xiaolong (Mitchelton-BikeExchange) and Simone Bevilacqua (Willier-Triestina).
The leaders enjoyed an advantage of over four minutes before the peloton awoke but as the kilometres ticked by it was clear that the break was more than holding its own.

With 25 kilometres remaining the break still held three-minutes over the chasing pack, with Astana and Quick-Step Floors swapping responsibility at the head of affairs.

Up ahead, the break began to shed riders, with the Rally pairing joined by Dunne as the intensity and pressure increased. The trio remained intact until the race turned off the highway and onto the undulating roads that pointed towards the Dam.

Carpenter threw down one final long lung-busting turn before dropping his shoulders and sitting up, but McNulty and Dunne pressed on. The duo was clearly thriving on the knowledge that the WorldTour teams had given them too much rope and panic began to creep in as Astana sent riders up the road to try and provoke a more earnest chase.

With 15 kilometres to go the two leaders had 2:24 but on another slight incline, Dunne was forced to concede. That left just 19-year-old McNulty out in front and for almost all of those final 12 kilometres the youngster made the impossible seem possible. With a background in time trialling, he pushed on, cutting through corners, powering through straight, and even managing the odd grimace-cum-smile for the television cameras.

At the top of the penultimate climb before race towards the Hatta Dam, Mark Christian rallied for Aqua Blue with a late solo bid but he was shut down by Quick-Step. Bahrain Merida, who had been relatively quiet until that point, then took control and with McNulty starting to struggle at the foot of the last climb, and with stretches of 17 per cent still to come, Colbrelli’s team could smell blood.

As McNulty came into view, a number of riders used the American as their reference point to open their uphill sprint but there was no stopping Colbrelli, who has consistently been in the top-10 this week. He came through the pack, and held off the late challenge from Cort and surprise package Roosen.

Colbrelli revealed afterwards that he had to go early due to a mechanical issue. “I really wanted to win today because the team has been working for me since day one. I was close yesterday. Today, again, Bahrain-Merida has done a great job. I launched the sprint from very far out because I had a mechanical and I was stuck on the 53,” he explained. “I couldn’t wait for this race to end. The last 50 metres looked to me like an infinity. This victory means a lot for my team and is very important for my morale. Even without being the favorites, we raced as a team like leaders.”

The Italian now has an outside chance of claiming victory on the final stage but Viviani’s form on the flat makes him the favourite. As for McNulty, a finishing place within the peloton is scant consolation for such a brave performance, but for such a young rider he impressed immensely. His time will surely come.

Results :
1 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 3:40:50
2 Magnus Cort (Den) Astana Pro Team
3 Timo Roosen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
6 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
7 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
8 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
9 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
10 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
11 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
12 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
13 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
14 Samuel Jenner (Aus) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange 0:00:09
15 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
16 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:00:11
17 Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) LottoNL-Jumbo
18 Michel Kreder (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
19 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
20 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
21 Brandon Mcnulty (USA) Rally Cycling
22 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:18
23 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:26
24 Yousif Mirza Al-Hammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:33
25 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:42
26 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) BMC Racing Team
27 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
28 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:51
29 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 0:00:54
30 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:06
31 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:18
32 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
33 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:25
34 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
35 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:30
36 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
37 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:34
38 Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team 0:01:51
39 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:00
40 Nazaerbieke Bieken (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:02:11
41 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:13
42 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:02:20
43 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:26
44 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:02:29
45 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:32
46 Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange
47 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
48 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
49 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:38
50 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data
51 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data 0:02:43
52 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
53 Adam Blythe (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
54 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:47
55 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling 0:02:53
56 Bram Tankink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:36
57 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:42
58 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:28
59 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:04:44
60 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:52
61 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
62 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:06:01
63 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin 0:06:07
64 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:06:11
65 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:06:19
66 Nasser Almemari (UAE) UAE National Team 0:07:35
67 Brian Kamstra (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk 0:07:37
68 Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:07:41
69 Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
70 Marco Coledan (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
71 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
72 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
73 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange
74 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
75 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
76 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
77 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
78 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
79 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
80 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
81 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
82 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
83 David Per (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
84 Borut Bozic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
85 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data
86 Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
87 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
88 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
89 Brad Huff (USA) Rally Cycling
90 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
91 Matthew Brammeier (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport
92 Anass Ait El Abdia (Mar) UAE Team Emirates
93 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:07:56
94 Fuwen Xue (Chn) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange 0:13:59
95 Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:14:03
96 Xialong Sun (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange
97 Quentin Valognes (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
98 Majed Albloushi (UAE) UAE National Team
99 Khalid Mayouf (UAE) UAE National Team
100 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
101 Daniel Pearson (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 0:14:07
102 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:14:12
103 Saif Alkaabi (UAE) UAE National Team 0:14:15
104 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:14:18
105 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
106 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling
DNS Mohammed Almansoori (UAE) UAE National Team
DNS Jaber Almansoori (UAE) UAE National Team
DNS Moh Almaurawwi Alblooshi (UAE) UAE National Team

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 16:00:28
2 Magnus Cort (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:02
3 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:04
4 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:07
5 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:08
6 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
7 Timo Roosen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:10
8 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:14
9 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
10 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
11 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
12 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:15
13 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:00:23
14 Brandon Mcnulty (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:24
15 Michel Kreder (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport 0:00:25
16 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
17 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:28
18 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:40
19 Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:01
20 Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:17
21 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:20
22 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:01:32
23 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:36
24 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:39
25 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:59
26 Nazaerbieke Bieken (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:02:25
27 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
28 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:02:26
29 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:02:43
30 Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange 0:02:46
31 Adam Blythe (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 0:02:57
32 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
33 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:01
34 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling 0:03:07
35 Samuel Jenner (Aus) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange 0:03:13
36 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:25
37 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:29
38 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:31
39 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:45
40 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:57
41 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:04:00
42 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:04:05
43 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:42
44 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 0:05:17
45 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:05:23
46 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:36
47 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:05:46
48 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:51
49 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin 0:06:21
50 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 0:06:25
51 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:07:02
52 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:07:38
53 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:07:51
54 Brian Kamstra (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
55 Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:07:55
56 Robert Stannard (Aus) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange
57 Brad Huff (USA) Rally Cycling
58 Borut Bozic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
59 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data
60 Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
61 Anass Ait El Abdia (Mar) UAE Team Emirates
62 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:07:57
63 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:08:07
64 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
65 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:08:26
66 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:08:51
67 Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team 0:09:17
68 Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:09:19
69 Bram Tankink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:09:58
70 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:10:27
71 David Per (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:10:33
72 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:10:39
73 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:53
74 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:10:56
75 Marco Coledan (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:11:02
76 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:11:12
77 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:11:17
78 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:11:21
79 Yousif Mirza Al-Hammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates 0:11:59
80 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:12:03
81 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:12:26
82 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:12:29
83 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:12:34
84 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:13:01
85 Nasser Almemari (UAE) UAE National Team 0:13:40
86 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:13:42
87 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:13:49
88 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:14:06
89 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 0:14:32
90 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
91 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:14:50
92 Matthew Brammeier (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:14:56
93 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:15:00
94 Umberto Poli (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:15:10
95 Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:16:47
96 Majed Albloushi (UAE) UAE National Team 0:16:52
97 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:17:33
98 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:40
99 Quentin Valognes (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:17:45
100 Xialong Sun (Chn) Mitchelton-BikeExchange 0:19:20
101 Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:19:59
102 Daniel Pearson (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 0:20:31
103 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
104 Saif Alkaabi (UAE) UAE National Team 0:22:48
105 Khalid Mayouf (UAE) UAE National Team 0:26:48
106 Fuwen Xue (Chn) Mitchelton-Bikeexchange 0:27:51