After Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) crossed the finish line of stage 1 of the UAE Tour, one of the first things he did was exchange a high five with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) to celebrate a working alliance with his rival that had proved hugely beneficial to both.
Plapp was active in both key breakaways of the day and, together with Evenepoel and Bahrain Victorious' Pello Bilbao, gained a significant advantage of 51 seconds over many other contenders.
The Australian National Champion made his general classification intentions clear when he battled Evenepoel for an intermediate sprint late in the stage and won.
After receiving the Best Young Riders jersey and the Sprints Jersey, Plapp said that gaining time on other contenders - most notably pre-race favourite former Ineos teammate Adam Yates (now with UAE Team Emirates) - ahead of Tuesday's crunch team time trial and the subsequent summit finishes was key.
Plapp said that Ineos Grenadiers had been more than expecting the race to explode in the vicious crosswinds as it did right from the start.
"We lined up about half an hour before the race started, I think we knew as soon as that flag dropped it was going to be on," Plapp told Cyclingnews after the winner's ceremony.
"We watched a load of videos before the same stage in 2021, it was the exact same stage, when as soon as the flag dropped it split, we knew it was going to be the same as that.
"And it was, we stayed away for 90km, it came together again and then it split again, it was almost a carbon copy [of 2021].
"I'm really happy I made the split, they're fine when you're in it and they're terrible when you're not."
He, Evenepoel, and Bilbao have stolen a march on their rivals, he said, and are in a great position. But they also collaborated well with the sprinters in the break, all but guaranteeing maximum gains on the rest of the field as everybody had an interest in staying clear.
"It was good to drive the group and then let the sprinters have their fun," Plapp observed. "They knew we just wanted to have a big gap and now we're looking forward to the team time trial, which I think is the best event in cycling so I'm really excited for that.
"And then we'll see what happens on the climbs. At the same time, you never know in the desert, the winds might pick up again and then the sprint days aren't sprint days. You've just got to be on it the whole day."
His high five, he said, was because the lead group had collaborated through to the finish, and there had been no late attacks to ruin the cooperation. A working alliance it might have been, but it was an alliance that worked.
"For sure, you don't want to attack each other at the finish. You're all there to gain as much time as possible on the GC guys. If you look at it as a whole, it's a great day for me, Remco and Pello. You can't complain at all mate, we're in a great position and really got to be on it."
He will, he confirmed, now be looking at the GC, with his advantage making that all but inevitable. "You have to now, don't you? We're a minute up the road, so - definitely."
