UAE Tour (st. 1)

World Champion and Blue team-mates finish 18" behind GC leader Roglič's Jumbo-Visma at flat, incredibly fast-paced 16km TTT opening the Emirati race in Al Hudayriat on Sunday.

It was a good performance to start off by the seven Movistar Team riders present at the first-ever UAE Tour, which took its curtain down on Sunday with a fast 16km team time trial in the Al Hudayriat cycling course, next to Abu Dhabi.

Valverde, Oliveira, Mas, Sütterlin, Amador -the five Blues together at the finish-, Fernández and Castrillo completed a well-sustained effort, even second quickest provisionally through the intermediate check after 10km to clock a solid third place over the finish, eventually the 5th fastest time of the TTT.

Jumbo-Visma -with the first leader of the race, Primož Roglič, 18″ ahead-, Sunweb -with Tom Dumoulin, 11″ better-, Bahrain (Nibali, -9″) and Sky (Moscon / Kwiatkowski, -4″) were the only squads able to improve the pace by the World Champion’s team-mates, now with stages ahead in good terrain for them -up to three uphill finishes-, as well as windy, flat sections where they will have to defend their leader up to Saturday.

Monday will bring a flat stage two around Abu Dhabi, 184km on coastal roads where wind gusts could show up and alter the sprinters’ plans.

Cover picture (c): Dario Belingheri / BettiniPhoto.net