UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

February 24, 2019

UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 1 TTT – Al Hudayriat – Al Hudayriat : 16 km

After running three separate races in recent years, the UAE will host its first national stage race this season. The inaugural UAE Tour is the coming together of the previous Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours and features visits to the other five Emirates, including Sharjah – the scene of the country’s other multi-day race.By combining the two events, organiser RCS Sport have been able to expand the event to seven stages and include multiple hilltop finishes that should see the fight for the overall classification spread across the whole week. There are also three opportunities for the sprinters to take a victory. While most of the Classics riders will be back in Europe for the opening weekend in Belgium, the parcours, the weather and the race’s WorldTour status has attracted a wealth of Grand Tour talent and sprinters.

Jumbo-Visma won the opening 16km team time trial at the UAE Tour, with Primoz Roglic bringing the team home and so taking the first leader’s red jersey of the new WorldTour race.

Jumbo-Visma set a time of 16:49 for the exposed but fast course in Abu Dhabi, racing at 57km/h thanks to huge turns by Tony Martin, Jos van Emden and Roglic.

Team Sunweb were seven seconds slower in 16:56, while Bahrain-Merida set a time of 16:58 thanks to the contribution of world time trial champion Rohan Dennis.

The exposed 16km course overlooking the Abu Dhabi skyline sparked some significant time difference amongst the overall contenders. Just like in a Grand Tour, seconds gained or lost in the team time trial will influence the mountain stages and fight for the red jersey.

Tom Dumoulin is only seven seconds behind Roglic, with Vincenzo Nibali well placed at nine seconds. Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) is at 14 seconds and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is at 18 seconds.

The fight for overall victory is more complicated for others. Tejay van Garderen is 26 down on his debut with EF Education First, Dan Martin and his UAE Team Emirates squad lost 36 seconds, while Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) start the road stages with a handicap of 43 seconds.

57km/h average speed

The teams started at five-minute intervals under a warm sun and facing a slight breeze across the exposed terrain. Most riders had opted for 58 chainrings up front, expecting high speeds and the averages soon began to touch 55km/h, with higher speeds on the tailwind sections.

EF Education First held the fastest time for a while with 17:15 but then Bahrain-Merida finished fast, stopping the clock in 16:58. They were the first under the 17-minute barrier and have clearly been working hard on their time trial equipment and training.

Bahrain-Merida were happy with their ride but had little time to celebrate. Jumbo-Visma had been seven seconds faster at the intermediate time check and finished faster, stopping the clock in 16:49.

Their average speed was 57.086km/h – one of the highest averages ever recorded for a TTT. Race data showed that Roglic covered the final five kilometres at an average speed of 64km/h.

Other teams failed to get close to Jumbo-Visma and finished beyond the 17-minute mark. Team Sunweb were their biggest threat and Dumoulin helped drive the red train along on their new disc-brake Cervelo bikes. Dumoulin and his teammates spread across the road as they hit the line but they had lost some speed in the final kilometres and set a time of 16:56, seven seconds slower than Jumbo-Visma.

The riders in yellow and black hugged and celebrated with their staff, knowing their own hard work and performance had paid. Roglic took the leader’s jersey, with Laurens De Plus pulling on the best young rider’s white jersey.

“We are very happy to start the season this way. We have a good team here with very strong time triallists, but that is no guarantee to perform well. You also have to show it in the race and that’s what we did,” Roglic said.

“It was a fast team time trial and it went very well. I came first through the last corner and then pulled a sprint.”

Monday’s 184km second stage is one for the sprinters and finishes at the Abu Dhabi Marina. But Jumbo-Visma promised to defend their race lead.

“It’s nice to have the leader’s jersey and we certainly have ambitions to win this race. There are still some tough stages coming up, so we take it day by day. But we have an excellent start,” Roglic said.

Results :
1 Team Jumbo-Visma 0:16:49
2 Team Sunweb 0:00:07
3 Bahrain-Merida 0:00:09
4 Team Sky 0:00:14
5 Movistar Team 0:00:18
6 CCC Team 0:00:24
7 Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:26
8 EF Education First
9 Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:29
10 Dimension Data
11 Groupama-FDJ
12 Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:32
13 UAE Team Emirates 0:00:36
14 Trek-Segafredo 0:00:43
15 Astana Pro Team 0:00:44
16 Lotto Soudal 0:00:45
17 Katusha-Alpecin
18 AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:54
19 Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:00:57
20 Team Novo Nordisk 0:01:46

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:16:49
2 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
4 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
5 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:07
6 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
9 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
10 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:08
11 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
13 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
14 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:14
15 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
16 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
17 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
18 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
19 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
20 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:00:18
21 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
22 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
23 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
24 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
25 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:24
26 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
27 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
28 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
29 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
30 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team
31 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:26
32 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
33 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
34 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
35 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
36 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
37 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First
38 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
39 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
40 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First
41 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
42 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:29
43 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
45 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
46 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
47 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data
48 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
49 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
50 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
51 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
52 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
53 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
54 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
55 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
56 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:32
57 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
58 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
59 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott
60 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
61 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:33
62 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:36
63 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
64 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates
65 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
66 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:41
67 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:43
68 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
69 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
70 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
71 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
72 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
73 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
74 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
75 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:00:44
76 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
77 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
78 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
79 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team
80 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:00:45
81 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
82 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
83 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
84 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
85 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
86 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
87 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
88 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
89 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:48
90 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:00:49
91 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:00:53
92 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:54
93 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
94 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
95 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
96 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:57
97 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
98 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
99 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
100 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
101 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
102 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:00:58
103 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
104 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
105 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:10
106 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:12
107 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:13
108 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:16
109 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First 0:01:17
110 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:19
111 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:01:27
112 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:29
113 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:32
114 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data 0:01:39
115 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:01:46
116 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk
117 Declan Irvine (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk
118 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
119 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
120 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
121 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:47
122 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal
123 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:50
124 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:54
125 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team 0:01:55
126 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:59
127 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:00
128 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:05
129 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:06
130 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:07
131 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
132 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:10
133 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:23
134 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
135 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:43
136 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:02:44
137 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:03:08
138 Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:03:18
139 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:46
140 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:05:40