Tour of Dubai 2018 – Stage 1 [LAST 30 KM]

February 06, 2018

Dubai Tour 2018 – Stage 1 – Skydive Dubai – Palm Jumeirah : 167 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.

Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) claimed stage 1 of the Dubai Tour ahead of Magnus Cort (Astana) and Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors).

The Dutchman hit the front inside the final 150 meters, and while the likes of Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin), Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) failed to be in the mix, Groenewegen timed his sprint perfectly. He held off the challenge of Viviani – who enjoyed a strong lead-out from his new team – and the fast finishing Cort to take the first leader’s jersey of this year’s race.

The front three finished well clear of the rest of the sprinters, with Marcel Kittel, who was making his debut in Katusha colours, banging his handlebars in frustration as he drifted over the line after a late mechanical. Until the final 300 metres, it looked as though both Kittel and Viviani would be in the mix, and the German was well marshalled into the sprint along with Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis).

When Groenewegen hit the front, however, he instantly put distance into his rivals. Viviani, pinned to the barriers on the Dutchman’s right, was unable to squeeze through the small gap but Cort almost snatched the win. The Dane had to contest most of the sprint with a vastly reduced lead-out after several of his teammates were wiped out in a crash inside the final 10 kilometres. The former GreenEdge rider opened his sprint on the opposite side of the road to Groenewegen and was possibly stronger. He had to come from further back, however, and after spending so much time exposed to the wind, he was unable to draw level before the line.

“It’s great to win here because there are a lot of good sprinters,” Groenewegen said. “I came close every day last year but I didn’t win. I came second twice and I’m glad to start this new season on the right foot, thanks to the good job by my team. Quick-Step made it a very hard sprint by setting a high speed from far out but I launched my sprint with 200m to go. It was very tight at the end but went in my favour. It feels good to win my first stage this year, especially with the high level of sprinters who are here.”

The flat stage had been marked by a five-man break that included Andy Fenn (Aqua Blue), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Cofidis), Mohammed Almansoori (United Arab Emirates), Nathan Van Hooydonck (BMC Racing) and Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk).

The group held a minute’s lead with just over 40km of the stage remaining as Katusha and Quick-Step shared duties on the front of the peloton. Inside the final 20km only Fenn and Planet were willing and able to keep the break’s momentum going but even that alliance was short-lived. Sensing that his companion was beginning to flag, Fenn skipped clear and even drew out a few more seconds, leading the race by a minute as the final 15km approached.

The strain began to tell on Fenn’s face as Katusha and Quick-Step upped their game, sending fresh reinforcements to the front of the peloton, and with Dimension Data and LottoNL-Jumbo adding their weight to the chase, the gap soon disappeared.

Willer and Rally both made appearances at the head of the race but the pace was disrupted when two Bahrain-Merida riders appeared to touch wheels. Around ten riders hit the floor, with Cort’s lead-out operation clearly caught up in the melee of bodies.

Viviani’s lead-out train emerged through the carnage and had four men at the Italian’s disposal as the line approached. Adam Blythe, meanwhile, was pinned to Kittel’s wheel, as Cavendish’s lead-out fought to get on terms. Bouhanni and Kristoff had numbers too but as the pace increased it was LottoNL who emerged front and centre with Groenewegen taking the spoils.

If his win in Paris during last year’s Tour de France was a breakthrough then this triumph was a timely reminder of his class. Groenewegen has well and truly arrived among the elite sprinters and, at 24, is here to stay.

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

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