UAE Tour 2022 – Stage 1 [LAST 10 KM]

February 20, 2022

UAE Tour 2022 – Stage 1 – Madinat Zayed – Madinat Zayed : 184 km

The men’s WorldTour season will finally get underway this Sunday with the 4th edition of the UAE Tour – a seven-day stage race born from the ashes of former races like the Abu Dhabi Tour and Dubai Tour. With a star-studded startlist, two summit finishes and one pivotal individual time trial, this year’s UAE Tour promises to be one of the most hotly-contested editions yet and an ideal testing ground for riders like Tadej Pogačar, Adam Yates and Aleksandr Vlasov to find their form ahead of this season’s Grand Tours. The question is, who will come out on top and crown themselves King of the Middle East? The UAE Tour may only be in its infancy but it has already managed to establish itself as one of the most well-rounded, week-long stage races on the calendar, with days for the sprinters, climbers and time trialists. It has also not taken long for several of the race’s most popular finishes, like the mountaintop finish on Jebel Hafeet, to become rather iconic. For a race that is ‘supposedly’ just a mix of super highways, bland mountain passes and expansive deserts, the UAE Tour routinely delivers a surprising amount of drama.

Jasper Philipsen won stage one of the UAE Tour in a hotly contested bunch sprint. Riding his first race of the season, the Alpecin-Fenix rider took the win ahead of Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) in second and Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) in third.

All three riders were spread across the road on a wide finishing straight, with little separating them.

The hectic closing metres saw Philipsen manage to gently nudge Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) off the wheel of UAE Team Emirates’ Pascal Ackermann, and was able to follow and then go past the German once he kicked off the sprint.

Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) looked like he might challenge him from the inside lane, but could not find a gap between Philipsen and the barriers.

With that threat to his right out of contention, Philipsen only had to worry about Bennett and Viviani to his left. But despite being able to open their sprints a little later, Philipsen had the endurance to stay ahead of them and take the win.

“It was a pretty fast finish,” said Philipsen after his win. “The last straight was more than 50 kilometres, so we could see the finish from very far out!

“The team did a really good job at staying calm. We had time and space to move, and then we made our way to the front.”

Asked how confident he was that he would win, the Belgian replied “Not confident at all. It was the first race of the season, so you don’t know how your shape is and how it compares with the other teams.

“I’m really looking forward to moving on and trying to repeat the same as we did today. It won’t work out always, but it’s good to win immediately and put the pressure off.”

His win was especially impressive given the calibre of sprinters he beat. Not only did he outpace Bennett, Viviani, and Groenewegen in the drag race to the line, he also left behind the likes of Cavendish, Ackermann, and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ).

“If you see the start list with all the sprinters, I think it’s almost the top field of sprinters in the first World Tour race of the year. So I think we can be really proud of what we did, and just keep on going in the next days.”

How it unfolded
On such flat roads in the desert, how this stage unfolded depended largely on whether or not the wind blew. As it happened, conditions were hot, with the temperature exceeding 30 degrees, with barely a breeze to cool down the riders.

As a result, the peloton ambled along for most of the day with little in the way of wind to have an effect, as they waited for the inevitable bunch sprint. Neither was the route especially complicated, with the riders heading out and back southwards and then northwards from Madinat Zayed.

A reasonably-sized five-man break went clear at the start of the day, consisting of two Gazprom-Rusvelo riders in Dmitry Strakhov and Pavel Kochetkov, two Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè riders in Luca Rastelli and Alessandro Tonelli, and Xandres Vervloesem (Lotto Soudal), the break’s sole WorldTour representative.

Vervloesem was one of just four riders who started the race for Lotto Soudal due to numerous cases of illness in the team, with Caleb Ewan among those to have withdrawn.

The peloton were happy to let them go, and they built a modest lead that stabilised at around three minutes.

They stuck together until the day’s first intermediate sprint, where the Gazprom-Rusvelo and Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè duos did battle. Kochetkov tried to steal a march on the others by attacking them on the run-in to the sprint, only to be chased down by Rastelli. Gazprom still came out on top, however, with Strakhov outsprinting Tonelli ahead of Vervloesem in third.

The gap quickly came down after the sprint, and by the time there was 68km left to ride — at which point the peloton were briefly given a red flag as a precaution against sandy roads — it was at 1:30.

Strakhov also won the second intermediate sprint, this time being led-out successfully by Kochetkov, whose pace turned out to be too much for Rastelli who was temporarily dropped prior to the sprint.

Strakhov punctured immediately after the sprint, and was soon swallowed up by the bunch, who remained just 1:30 adrift of the break.

By now the riders were on the long, straight road northwards back to the finish in Madinat Zayed, helped along by a tailwind. The break was soon visible up the road, and not wanting to make the catch too early, there was a relaxed atmosphere in the bunch, with riders idly chatting to each other.

Despite the calm environment in the peloton, Rick Zabel (Israel-Premier Tech) went down in the bunch 25 kilometres from the finish, though was able to gingerly remount and continue.

Having continued to hover just ahead of the peloton, the break was eventually caught 19 kilometres from the finish.

Still the pace remained slow in the peloton, as no team wanted to yet take it up ahead of the sprint finish.

At last the sprinters’ teams began to up the ante a little with 11 kilometres to go. QuickStep-AlphaVinyl, Ineos Grenadiers and Bahrain Victorious were the initial frontrunners, but still no single team strung the peloton out, which remained closely bunched together.

Several other trains began to compete for supremacy at the front with 5 kilometres to go, with Israel-Premier Tech taking control 2 kilometres from the line.

BikeExchange-Jayco then took control and were still at the front under the one kilometre to go banner. Amid the flurry of lead-out men trying to set their sprinters up, it was Bora-Hansgrohe’s last man for Sam Bennett who emerged to the front, justifying the team’s risky ploy of staying near the back of the peloton a mere few kilometres before.

But despite being well positioned, Bora-Hansgrohe’s Bennett didn’t quite have the speed to defeat Philipsen.

Results :
1 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 4:42:34
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
4 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) BikeExchange-Jayco
5 Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
6 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7 Max Kanter (Ger) Movistar Team
8 Olav Kooij (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
9 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
10 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) UAE Team Emirates
11 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel-Premier Tech
12 Jonathan Milan (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
13 Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
14 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
15 Marc Sarreau (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
16 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
17 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Lotto Soudal
18 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
19 Johnatan Cañaveral Vargas (Col) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
20 Marc Brustenga Masague (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
21 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education-EasyPost
22 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-EasyPost
23 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
24 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
25 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
26 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
27 Timo Roosen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
28 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix
29 Luka Mezgec (Slo) BikeExchange-Jayco
30 Paul Lapeira (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
31 Jai Hindley (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
32 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Col) Astana Qazaqstan Team
33 Luca Covili (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
34 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
35 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
36 Robert Stannard (Aus) Alpecin-Fenix
37 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
38 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
39 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe
40 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team DSM
41 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
42 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) EF Education-EasyPost
43 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
44 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
45 Mathias Vacek (Cze) Gazprom-Rusvelo
46 Xandres Vervloesem (Bel) Lotto Soudal
47 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
48 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates
49 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious
50 Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
51 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
52 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
53 João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
54 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
55 David de la Cruz (Spa) Astana Qazaqstan Team
56 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
57 Vadim Pronskiy (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
58 Chris Harper (Aus) Jumbo-Visma
59 Julius Johansen (Den) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
60 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team DSM
61 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM
62 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM
63 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers
64 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe
65 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana Qazaqstan Team
66 Samuele Zoccarato (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
67 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
68 Clément Berthet (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
69 William Barta (USA) Movistar Team
70 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team
71 Rafal Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
72 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
73 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
74 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Movistar Team
75 George Bennett (NZl) UAE Team Emirates
76 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
77 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
78 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
79 Filip Maciejuk (Pol) Bahrain Victorious
80 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
81 Campbell Stewart (NZl) BikeExchange-Jayco
82 Bob Jungels (Lux) AG2R Citroen Team
83 Michael Kukrle (Cze) Gazprom-Rusvelo
84 Sebastian Berwick (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech
85 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
86 Kelland O’Brien (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
87 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
88 Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
89 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
90 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
91 Ethan Vernon (GBr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
92 Alejandro Osorio Carvajal (Col) Bahrain Victorious
93 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
94 Mathias Norsgaard (Den) Movistar Team
95 Jakob Egholm (Den) Trek-Segafredo
96 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
97 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team
98 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
99 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers
100 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
101 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
102 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ
103 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
104 Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Team DSM
105 Stan Van Tricht (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
106 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
107 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
108 Jos van Emden (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
109 Niklas Märkl (Ger) Team DSM
110 Luca Rastelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
111 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) Lotto Soudal
112 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ
113 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
114 Clément Davy (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
115 Taj Jones (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech
116 Kaden Groves (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:00:18
117 Lucas Plapp (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:19
118 Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM
119 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
120 Daryl Impey (RSA) Israel-Premier Tech 0:00:39
121 Stijn Steels (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:00:52
122 Damien Howson (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:01:22
123 Johan Price Pejtersen (Den) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:24
124 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
125 Sam Bewley (NZl) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:02:03
DNS Denis Nekrasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 4:42:24
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
3 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:06
5 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
6 Xandres Vervloesem (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:08
7 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:00:10
8 Emils Liepins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
9 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
10 Max Kanter (Ger) Movistar Team
11 Olav Kooij (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
12 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
13 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) UAE Team Emirates
14 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel-Premier Tech
15 Jonathan Milan (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
16 Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
17 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Marc Sarreau (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
19 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
20 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Lotto Soudal
21 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
22 Johnatan Cañaveral Vargas (Col) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
23 Marc Brustenga Masague (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
24 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education-EasyPost
25 Stefan Bissegger (Swi) EF Education-EasyPost
26 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
27 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
28 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
29 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
30 Timo Roosen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
31 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix
32 Luka Mezgec (Slo) BikeExchange-Jayco
33 Paul Lapeira (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
34 Jai Hindley (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
35 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Col) Astana Qazaqstan Team
36 Luca Covili (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
37 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
38 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
39 Robert Stannard (Aus) Alpecin-Fenix
40 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
41 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
42 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe
43 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team DSM
44 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
45 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) EF Education-EasyPost
46 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
47 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
48 Mathias Vacek (Cze) Gazprom-Rusvelo
49 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
50 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates
51 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious
52 Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
53 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
54 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
55 João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates
56 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
57 David de la Cruz (Spa) Astana Qazaqstan Team
58 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
59 Vadim Pronskiy (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan Team
60 Chris Harper (Aus) Jumbo-Visma
61 Julius Johansen (Den) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
62 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team DSM
63 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM
64 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM
65 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers
66 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe
67 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana Qazaqstan Team
68 Samuele Zoccarato (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
69 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
70 Clément Berthet (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
71 William Barta (USA) Movistar Team
72 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team
73 Rafal Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
74 Simon Pellaud (Swi) Trek-Segafredo
75 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
76 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Movistar Team
77 George Bennett (NZl) UAE Team Emirates
78 Fausto Masnada (Ita) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
79 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
80 Filip Maciejuk (Pol) Bahrain Victorious
81 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
82 Campbell Stewart (NZl) BikeExchange-Jayco
83 Bob Jungels (Lux) AG2R Citroen Team
84 Michael Kukrle (Cze) Gazprom-Rusvelo
85 Sebastian Berwick (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech
86 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
87 Kelland O’Brien (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco
88 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
89 Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
90 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain Victorious
91 Ethan Vernon (GBr) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
92 Alejandro Osorio Carvajal (Col) Bahrain Victorious
93 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroen Team
94 Mathias Norsgaard (Den) Movistar Team
95 Jakob Egholm (Den) Trek-Segafredo
96 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
97 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team
98 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
99 Andrey Amador (CRc) Ineos Grenadiers
100 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
101 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
102 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ
103 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
104 Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Team DSM
105 Stan Van Tricht (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team
106 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
107 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
108 Jos van Emden (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
109 Niklas Märkl (Ger) Team DSM
110 Luca Rastelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’
111 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) Lotto Soudal
112 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ
113 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
114 Clément Davy (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
115 Taj Jones (Aus) Israel-Premier Tech
116 Kaden Groves (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:00:28
117 Lucas Plapp (Aus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:29
118 Cees Bol (Ned) Team DSM
119 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
120 Daryl Impey (RSA) Israel-Premier Tech
121 Stijn Steels (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:01:02
122 Damien Howson (Aus) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:01:32
123 Johan Price Pejtersen (Den) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:34
124 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
125 Sam Bewley (NZl) BikeExchange-Jayco 0:02:13