Dubai Tour 2018 – Stage 5 [LAST 20 KM]

February 10, 2018

Dubai Tour 2018 – Stage 5 – Skydive Dubai – City Walk : 132 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.

Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) won the final stage of the Dubai Tour in a bunch sprint to secure final overall victory. The Italian came from a long way back in the finishing straight to overhaul Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin) at the line, while Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue Sport) claimed third.

The run-in was marred by a crash in the final kilometre that saw Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) come down. The incident also ruined Dylan Groenewegen’s chances and forced Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) to a standstill. The Manxman emerged unscathed from the incident but was unable to play any part in the sprint.

Marcel Kittel’s trying opening race in Katusha-Alpecin colours continued on the final day of the Dubai Tour, and he could only manage 6th on the stage after losing contact with his lead-out amid the confusion of the late crash. Two of Kittel’s teammates ended up sprinting for placings just ahead of him, with Haller taking second and Rick Zabel placing fifth.

Viviani, by contrast, has made a seamless transition to life at Quick-Step Floors and has struck up a fine understanding with Fabio Sabatini, who was previously a teammate at Liquigas. Sabatini helped to pilot Viviani through a rather chaotic final kilometre on Saturday, putting him in position to sprint for the stage win and to secure final overall victory.

“I needed all of my teammates for the last kilometres, and Saba did an amazing job again. He always knows when I’m on his wheel,” Viviani said. “We only just missed the crash, and Saba led me towards the front. I think with 50 metres to go, I realised I could win.”

Viviani had begun the day just two seconds ahead of Magnus Cort (Astana) in the general classification, but understood that he could not afford to base his final sprint around the Dane. In the end, it was a rather fragmented bunch finish. After Lotto-Soudal led into the final kilometre, Cofidis took up the reins before the crash removed their leader Bouhanni from contention.

Katusha-Alpecin had strength in numbers towards the front, but Kittel was unable to link up successfully with his lead-out amid the tumult, and it was ultimately Haller and Zabel who led the line for the team in red, vying with Jempy Drucker (BMC) as the sprint opened.

In the final 50 metres, however, Viviani emerged at Haller’s shoulder and powered past to claim a fine victory. Like the Italian, Blythe was closing rapidly in the final metres, but he had to settle for third, while Drucker held on for fourth.

Magnus Cort could only manage 8th in the sprint, which meant that when the bonuses were factored in, Viviani had claimed the overall victory by 12 seconds. Stage 4 winner Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) placed third overall a further two seconds back.

“It’s amazing,” Viviani said of his overall win. “This morning I was really stressed, but with a two-second lead it was really all or nothing. If we sprinted just to control the others, then would lose. Our hope was that a break would go early without any GC guys, and then we could focus on the sprint, and that’s what happened.”

Cort, meanwhile, declared himself satisfied with second overall and the white jersey of best young rider. “Maybe I hoped for a better result in today’s stage, but I’m happy to keep second and the white jersey,” he said. “The crash slowed me down a little, but it also took away riders who were in front of me. I was too far back to do a great sprint.”

How it unfolded

At just 132 kilometres in length and on a pan flat, largely urban course, the Meraas stage of the 2018 Dubai Tour was always likely to finish in a bunch sprint, but that did not mean there was a lack of willing attackers on the final day of the five-day race.

Daniel Pearson (Aqua Blue Sport) was the first rider on the offensive, going clear alone inside the opening kilometres, though he was glad to be joined by reinforcements shortly afterwards as Sun Xiaolong (Mitchelton-BikeExchange), Quentin Valognes (Novo-Nordisk) and Nasser Almemari (Team UAE) bridged across.

The quartet struck up a decent working alliance, establishing a maximum lead of 4:40 before the sprinters’ teammates – and Bram Tankink of LottoNL-Jumbo, in particular – set about reducing that gap to more manageable dimensions.

While Valognes was in the process of picking up enough intermediate points to win the sprint classification, his Novo Nordisk teammate Christopher Williams endured a rather more trying day as he was forced to abandon the race after an early crash.

The escapees had a shade over a minute in hand on the bunch as they entered the final 25 kilometres, and it was at this juncture that Pearson decided to try his luck alone. The Welshman fought gamely but with UAE-Team Emirates joining the pursuit behind, his solo effort never looked like going the distance.

Just as the peloton was on the point of capturing Pearson inside the final 9 kilometres, the Mitchelton-BikeExhange duo of Jacob Hennessy and Robert Stannard went on the offensive. They shot past Pearson and opened a lead of 13 seconds over the bunch before they, too, were brought to heel with 3km to go.

Bahrain-Merida hit the front as the pace ratcheted up ahead of the sprint, with Vincenzo Nibali prominent, before LottoNL-Jumbo took over in support of Groenewegen. The Dutchman’s hopes evaporated in the crash inside the final kilometre, however, and instead it was Viviani who claimed the stage and overall victory to bring his running tally for the season to three wins.

“This is a really important step up,” Viviani said. “I came to Quick-Step thinking I wanted to be one of the best sprinters in the world, and I think this is a good start. The result is 90% about the team, the work they did was amazing and the tactics were great. Brian [Holm] did a great job in the team car.”

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

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