UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 7 [LAST 25 KM]

March 02, 2019

UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 7 – Dubai Safari Park – City Walk : 145 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.

It was third time lucky for Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) as he won the final stage of the UAE Tour at the Dubai City Tour, beating Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal). Meanwhile, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) enjoyed an uneventful day to claim the overall title, having led the overall classification right from the very first stage.

Lotto Soudal led the peloton into the final kilometres of the stage with Ewan sitting in third wheel but the Australian was quickly swept up as UAE Team Emirates came from behind. Bennett used a similar tactic to the one that he took on stage 5 into Khor Fakkan and utilised the wheel of Gaviria to drag him through to the right position. Having got his timing wrong on the first two sprint stages, Bennett timed his run to perfection on Saturday afternoon to beat Gaviria by a mere wheel’s length.

It is Bennett’s first WorldTour win of the season and his second overall after he claimed the final stage of the Vuelta a San Juan. In a field that contains some of the world’s best sprinters, it is a morale-boosting victory for Bennett, who let out a roar of delight after crossing the line.

“I needed that. The team did a fantastic job again. I tried to fight for Gaviria’s wheel. Today I had the legs to finish it off. I knew if you could get a win here with all the top sprinters, it means you are not so bad. This is good for my confidence. I’m looking forward to the other nice races coming up.”

With just this sprint stage remaining, Roglic had all-but sealed the overall victory with a 31-second advantage over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and 44 seconds over David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). It wouldn’t be a simple conclusion with winds sweeping through the centre of Dubai and battering the peloton.

“It was nervous with all this wind, but we showed once again that we’re a strong team and we brought the jersey to the end,” Roglic said. “It’s my first race and it’s really nice to start like that. We did some big work here. It’s nice to get some results already.”

How it happened

After rain drenched the penultimate stage start, the final stage of the UAE Tour began in the grounds of the Dubai Safari park under sunny skies. However, it was far from warm with winds sweeping through the start area and around the city.

Just after 1 p.m. local time, the peloton rolled out for the final time this week with Roglic wearing the red jersey as he had done all week. The weather made for a nervous peloton once again, but this time they avoided the pitfalls of the previous day.

A break quickly formed with three riders getting up the road in the opening kilometres. Unusually, none of the wildcard teams made it into the move, instead, it was a full WorldTour compliment of riders with Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale), Dmitry Gruzdev (Astana) and William Clarke (Trek-Segafredo) going clear.

The break was never given much freedom by the peloton behind, allowing them a maximum of 4:40. Bit by bit, the peloton began reeling the three riders in, finally catching them inside the last three kilometres.

The sprinters’ teams were already at full pelt by this point, and the various trains began jostling for position. Ewan opened up his sprint first after a strong lead-out by his Lotto Soudal team, but he was quickly overtaken as Alexander Kristoff charged forward with teammate Gaviria in his wheel.

Bennett held his position in the wheel of Gaviria before striking out to overhaul him in the final metres.

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

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