Fujairah: The third day of the Dubai Tour witnessed a major shuffle at the top where Team Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish claimed his first win for the season, while Stage 2 winner Elia Viviani of the Quick-Step Floors team took control as the overall leader.
Known as the Dubai Silicon Oasis Stage over 180km, the race concluded in front of the Fujairah International Marine Club along the Corniche with some of the top sprinters involved in a frenetic finish. With nearly all the top sprinters involved, it was 2015 Dubai champion Cavendish who had that little extra to nudge clear of Cofidis, Solutions Credits’ Nacer Bouhanni and two-time defending champion Marcel Kittel of Katusha Alpecin.
And with overnight leader Dylan Groenewegen slapped with a 20-second penalty for sheltering behind the slipstream of a car, it was left up to Viviani to ascend the General Classification podium ahead of Cavendish four seconds behind and BMC Racing’s Nathan Van Hooydonck.
“I think the penalty was justified. It was a good decision,” Groenewegen later admitted.
“The penalty aside I also had problems with my bike bracket. So I changed bikes and that too didn’t help. The goal this time was to win the Dubai Tour, but I suppose things will be different now,” the disappointed 24-year-old Dutch rider added. In the bargain Groenewegen ended up losing two of his three jerseys — the White one for the best young rider going to Van Hooydonck and the Blue jersey for General Classification to Viviani.
But, Cavendish was left basking in the warmth of his 146th career win and his third stage victory in the five years of this race. “The team did a great job. Perhaps we’ve left it a bit too late to put ourselves with a chance in the GC (General Classification). But we will take the win and see how things work out over the next two days,” the 32-year-old said.
Born on the Isle of Man, Cav has won 15 stages at the Giro d’Italia, another 30 stages of the Tour de France and another three of the Vuelta a Espana in a career spanning more than 12 years. A UCI Road World Champion in 2011, the Manx Missile teamed up with Bradley Wiggins to win gold in the Madison at the 2016 Track World Championships. He followed this up with silver in the Omnium at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Viviani, who celebrated his 29th birthday with the Stage Two win, was left weighing his options. “The race will be over only on Saturday. So the focus now will be to try and defend the lead on Friday and then go all out on the final stage,” Viviani related.
The 180km third stage started off at a brisk pace with the quartet of Loic Vliegen (BMC Racing), Quentin Valognes (Team Novo Nordisk), Mark Christian (Aqua Blue Sport) and Siomne Bevilacqua (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) leading the breakaway.
BMC Racing’s Vliegen went on to win the first Intermediate Sprint clearing Valognes, Bevilacqua and Christian with the average notched at a quick 46.6kph.
After that, the gap kept on expanding with the front four 3.55 minutes clear approaching Dubai Silicon Oasis. The leaders further improved on the pace and broke up a huge 7.40 minutes gap at one time, only to see the chasing peloton slowly cutting this down as the race progressed.
By the time BMC Racing’s Vliegen finished ahead of Valognes, Bevilacqua and Christian to take the second Intermediate Sprint at Lahbab, the gap was down to 3.35 minutes. The Quick-Step Floors Team decided to attack cutting down the gap to a mere 1.35 minutes approaching Mahafiz and heading towards Dhaid and then onto the final straight for the finish.
Friday’s fourth stage — also called the Dubai Municipality Stage over 172 kms — will have a start at Skydive Dubai and head out at 11am passing through the desert areas of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah before ending with a steep 400 metres climb on the scenic Hatta Dam.
