UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 5 [LAST 20 KM]

February 28, 2019

UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 5 – Sharjah – Khor Fakkan : 181 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.

Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won stage 5 of the UAE Tour to Khor Fakkan, coming from behind to find a way past his rivals and beat Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the high-speed sprint finish.

Alexander Kristoff again gave Gaviria a superb lead-out but perhaps left him out front a little early into the headwind. Viviani was stuck behind but used his sprinting and bike skills to find a way through and then came up between Gaviria and the barriers. The four sprinters were spread across the road as they hit the line, but Viviani won it by a half a bike length.

Viviani made a superb piece of technical sprinting look easy and was proud to have beaten most of his big-name sprint rivals in the peloton. It was his 70th career victory and his third win of the 2019 season.

“I think with the best sprinters in the world, the hardest thing is to wait. I don’t know who finished second and third but it was a chaotic finish,” Viviani explained.

“For sure I’m really proud of myself and my team because it’s never easy after a successful season like last year and you see Fernando [Gaviria] is no longer our teammate. My lead-out train worked really well and we were thinking about our tactics in the last few days because after the first stage, we wanted to win. As always, the team did a fantastic job, thanks to my teammates.”

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) finished in the peloton and so kept his overall race lead before Friday’s decisive mountain finish to Jebel Jais. His teammates rode on the front to keep the break under control but were careful to save their strength for Friday’s stage.

“As expected, it was a long day in the saddle but I didn’t really get bored because we always had to be attentive in the desert with the crosswinds. Again, our team did a great job, who protected my time. For sure, we’re ready for tomorrow’s decisive stage,” Roglic said.

How it happened

The 181km was a ride across the UAE peninsular, with a finish on the coast. Stages of the Dubai Tour have finished in Fujairah but this stage headed further up the coast to Khor Fakkan.

Again the Novo Nordisk and Gazprom-Rusvelo riders jumped in the early break to fight for the intermediate sprints leader’s black jersey and the green points jersey.

Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk) rode in the black jersey today, with Stepan Kurianov (Gazprom) in the green jersey. They were joined by Anton Vorobyev and Sergey Shilov for Gazprom, and Fabio Calabria for Novo Nordisk today, to help in the intermediate sprints.

The peloton let them get on with it up front, preferring to ride steady at an average of 36kph for much of the stage, riding united and avoiding the creation of echelons as sand often blew across the road.

Planet beat Kurianov to win the early intermediate sprint but the second sprint with 44km to go was a real battle. Kurianov got a perfect lead-out from his teammate, and Gazprom also took second place, with Planet only third. That meant Kurianov would pull on the black points intermediate sprints jersey as well as the green points jersey.

With the sprints decided, the break lost speed and was soon swept up by the peloton with Lotto Soudal leading for their sprinter Caleb Ewan. Calabria was the last rider to be caught with 30km to go.

For a while the peloton hesitated, preferring not to fight for the position too early in the lead-out, with Vegard Stake Laengen helping with some hard work on the front for UAE Team Emirates.

A slight climb and fast descent kept the peloton together but the speed was close to 55kph as the teams came together and fought for position. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) made sure he was on Caleb Ewan’s wheel but he had to defend his position to stay there.

Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) touched wheels at high speed and crashed, with the other riders somehow managing to avoid him as Jumbo-Visma rode their own race to protect Roglic in the final kilometres.

A roundabout with 3.3km to go reshuffled the sprint trains and the whole peloton hesitated on the long straight finish before Lotto Soudal again took control. Viviani was dragged up to near the front by three Deceuninck-QuickStep inside the final kilometre. Kristoff and Gaviria were on his wheel and were waiting for their moment.

Kristoff is a world-class sprinter in his own right and showed by the way he surged passed the Deceuninck-QuickStep lead-out train to position Gaviria. Viviani was stuck behind as other riders came up but he kept his nerve and waited for his chance.

Kristoff dropped off Gaviria a little early and Viviani saw his chance. As other riders faded, he accelerated and somehow managed to find a way through. Gaviria was fading as the line approached and Viviani managed to beat him by going up the left and hold off the other sprinters who were on the right.

Results :
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:48:59
2 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
3 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
4 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
6 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
7 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
8 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
9 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
10 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
11 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
12 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
13 Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
14 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
15 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
16 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
17 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
18 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
19 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
20 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
21 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First
22 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
23 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
24 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
25 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
26 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
27 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
28 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
29 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
30 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
31 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
32 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
33 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
34 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
35 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
36 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
37 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
38 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First
39 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
40 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
41 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
42 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
43 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
45 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb
46 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
47 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
48 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
49 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
50 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
51 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk
52 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
54 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
55 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal
56 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
57 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First
58 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
59 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
60 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates
61 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
62 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
63 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
64 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
65 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team
66 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
67 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
68 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
69 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
70 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb
71 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
72 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
73 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
74 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
75 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
76 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
77 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
78 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
79 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
80 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
81 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
82 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
83 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
84 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
85 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
86 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
87 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
88 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
89 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
90 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
91 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
92 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data
93 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
94 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
95 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
96 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
97 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
98 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
99 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
100 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team
101 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
102 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
103 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
104 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
105 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
106 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
107 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
108 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
109 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
110 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
111 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
112 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
113 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
114 Kenny ELLISSONDE
115 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
116 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
117 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
118 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
119 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First
120 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
121 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:00:19
122 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
123 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:23
124 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
125 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:38
126 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:54
127 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
128 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:22
129 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
130 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
131 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:47
132 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
133 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
134 Declan Irvine (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:03:17
135 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:23
136 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

General Classification after Stage 5 :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 18:54:09
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:21
3 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:38
4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:46
5 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:54
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:01
7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:04
8 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team 0:01:12
9 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:14
10 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:15
11 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:23
12 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:30
13 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:31
14 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:01:32
15 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:01:36
16 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:42
17 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:46
18 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 0:01:56
19 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:02
20 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:11
21 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:20
22 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky 0:02:36
23 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:47
24 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
25 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:57
26 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:14
27 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:18
28 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data 0:03:32
29 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:36
30 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:08
31 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:11
32 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data 0:04:18
33 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:04:23
34 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:26
35 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:04:42
36 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team 0:04:49
37 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:56
38 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:01
39 Kenny ELLISSONDE 0:05:03
40 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:05:47
41 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:06:18
42 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:06:25
43 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team 0:07:28
44 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team 0:07:51
45 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:08:02
46 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:25
47 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:32
48 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:08:54
49 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:06
50 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:09:08
51 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:09:19
52 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:09:20
53 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk 0:09:54
54 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:09:55
55 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:10:03
56 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:10:10
57 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:10:57
58 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:11:09
59 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:11:28
60 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 0:11:55
61 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:12:38
62 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:12:58
63 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:19
64 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:13:23
65 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:13:54
66 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:14:57
67 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:15:04
68 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team 0:15:27
69 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:15:52
70 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team 0:15:59
71 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:16:02
72 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:16:44
73 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First 0:16:57
74 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:17:35
75 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:17:41
76 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:17:48
77 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:49
78 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:17:56
79 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin 0:18:00
80 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:07
81 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk 0:18:12
82 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:18:30
83 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:34
84 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First 0:18:35
85 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:18:40
86 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:18:44
87 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:18:46
88 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:18:50
89 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:19:27
90 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:19:30
91 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:38
92 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First 0:19:49
93 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
94 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:19:56
95 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:21:08
96 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:21:23
97 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:21:33
98 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:22:01
99 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:22:06
100 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:22:40
101 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:22:42
102 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:22:43
103 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:22:52
104 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:22:55
105 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:22:58
106 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:23:00
107 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:23:16
108 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:23:35
109 Declan Irvine (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:23:44
110 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:23:51
111 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:24:11
112 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:24:13
113 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:24:16
114 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:24:23
115 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:24:26
116 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky 0:24:30
117 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:24:40
118 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First 0:24:42
119 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:24:59
120 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:25:09
121 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
122 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:25:13
123 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:25:23
124 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:25:28
125 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:25:37
126 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:25:45
127 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:26:16
128 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:26:28
129 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:26:35
130 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:27:19
131 Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:27:34
132 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:27:58
133 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:28:22
134 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:30:17
135 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:31:04
136 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:42:07