Abu Dhabi: While the world’s best riders melted in the sweltering desert heat during stage one of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour on Thursday, the Skydive Dubai team riders Franciso Mancebo, Rafaa Chtioui and Andrea Palini ruled the roost.
Mancebo was in the first pack of five that broke away early and he stayed in front for almost 120km, with the lead topping three minutes at one stage.
Mancebo then passed on the challenge to Chtioui around 32km from the finish. The Tunisian showed he had the legs to push the best in the world to the wire as he still had a 10-second lead going into the final two kilometres. Eventually he was caught with the line almost in sight.
The victory didn’t belong to the home side, but they certainly impressed among the cream of riders from all over the world.
Paul Voss of Bora-Argon 18, who was with Mancebo for most of the race, was all praise for the Spaniard.
“It was great to see Mancebo from local team Skydive Dubai staying in the breakaway pack for most of the race. He kept fighting and proved he is a great rider,” Voss said.
“You will see the local team fight in the coming stages as well.
Right strategy
“Today I got the strategy right for the intermediate sprint, I will say,” added Voss, who bagged the black jersey intermediate sprint classification.
Chtioui was elated with his showing and said the team was working really hard to do well here.
“It was a really important race for Skydive Dubai. Normally we don’t break away so early but, with the hot weather, nobody can do the breakaway for such a long distance.
“When I got ahead, I thought I would give it a shot. I thought I would do the 40km. It was a really good day for me today. I was happy to bring it to the last kilometre, it was pretty close.”
He also revealed that the last 40km were particularly tough as there was a lot of head wind.
“The head wind made it tough and hard, but, despite being alone, I made a good chase,” Chtioui said.
Alberto Volpi, the new technical director of Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling, was overjoyed with the way his wards fared.
“It was a pleasure to work with such a side. They stuck to the plan exactly the way I had told them. I would say we fought through the race and did everything possible. I’m really proud of their showing.”
