Viviani wins stage 2 of the Dubai Tour

Elia Viviani added to a very successful day for team Sky with victory on a crash-effected second stage of the Dubai Tour. Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) claimed second with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) rounding out the podium. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) were put out of contention after a crash in the final kilometre leaving it to a small group to duke it out.

Viviani looked untouchable in the reduced bunch sprint after a strong leadout from Ben Swift. It the Italian’s first victory of the season after being beaten by the smallest of margins on the final stage of the Tour de San Luis, by his own leadout man Jakub Mareczko. That defeat had elicited an unusually strong reaction from Viviani, who refused to attend the podium ceremony

“I would have preferred to win last week in San Luis but I finished second and third there a few times but it is perfect to start the season well here. It’s really the same as the last years because I won my first race here in La Palma last year. Maybe it is a lucky race for me here,” Viviani said after the stage.

“Today we did a perfect leadout, yesterday we had some faults and we went too early and I was alone in the last kilometre. I needed to do a long sprint and I’m not competitive enough to beat some of the best sprinters this year. If I do the first sprint for position, then I lose any chance of winning the sprint for victory. Today we perfected some movements and Andy Fenn and Swift did a perfect leadout for me. We came out of the tunnel really fast in the first positions. Andy and Swifty took me to 200 metres to go and I have to say thanks to the team for a perfect job. “

A crash at the mouth of a tunnel with a kilometre remaining all but ended the hopes of the pre-stage favourites, Cavendish and Kittel. The crash appeared to be sparked by a touch of wheels with a Trek-Segafredo rider going down. While Cavendish was able to fight back into the leading group, the efforts showed and he came home in 10th. Kittel didn’t have such luck and rolled in well down on the group.

Viviani’s victory made him the new race leader with Kittel keeping second place, due to the crash being inside the three-kilometre mark.

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How it happened

The second stage of the Dubai Tour began in the surroundings of the Dubai International Marine Club. The day would be five kilometres shorter than had been billed in the roadbook with roadworks forcing the late change. Kittel looked relaxed in the blue of the leader’s jersey after taking an emphatic victory on the opening day of the race.

Polish rider Marcin Bialoblocki kicked off the action with an attack after just five kilometres of racing. He was soon joined by Silvan Dillier (BMC), Koen de Kort (Giant-Alpecin) and Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai) to form the four-man group that would spend most of the day out front. The quartet was allowed to hang out front, but was never given much rope and their maximum advantage extended to just over two minutes.

Bialoblocki made the most of his time out ahead of the bunch by taking the intermediate sprints ensuring his place in a classification jersey for stage 3.

Behind the four leaders, the peloton took a slightly more relaxed approach to the day riding a marginally slower average speed of 44kph compared to stage one. The team of race leader Kittel, Etixx-QuickStep was ever-present on the front of the bunch assuming full control of proceedings. Cavendish’s Dimension Data team were happy to let the Belgian squad do most of the work but sent Songezo Jim up to ensure some sort of presence at the front.

With just over 20 kilometres to go, the strain began to show on the escapees and Bialoblocki put in a small dig to test his companions. After an attempt to get away much earlier in the day, Mancebo attacked with 15 kilometres to go to make him the last man in the break standing as his fellow escapees were brought back in by the peloton. Mancebo would finally have to accept defeat with just over 10 kilometres to go.

Going into the final 10 kilometres, Bialoblocki didn’t renege on his team duties despite having spent the day in the break and helped pull along a One Pro Cycling train at the head of the peloton. As the group sped along the seafront, all of the key teams had riders at the front preparing themselves for the inevitable bunch sprint on the Palm Jumeirah. Bradley Wiggins doesn’t have any personal ambitions but he made a brief appearance on the front with two kilometres to go before pulling off and rolling home.

A crash near the exit of the tunnel with just over a kilometre to go disrupted the sprint and appeared to effect Kittel and Cavendish. Team Sky managed to avoid the incident and delivered Viviani to the line perfectly, with Modolo chasing in his wheel for second place.

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