Dubai: Italian Elia Viviani of Team Sky seems to have taken a liking to the stage two of the Dubai Tour as he completed a double by winning the stage for the second year in a row on Thursday.
Viviani completed the 183km Nakheel Stage from the Dubai International Marine Club to the Palm Jumeirah Island with a timing of 4:07:39 and also took the blue leader’s jersey from stage one winner Marcel Kittel, who along with defending champion Mark Cavendish, got bottled up towards the end following a crash.
Sacha Modolo of Lampre-Merida also showed he had the power to squeeze his way ahead for second, while Giamoco Nizzolo of Trek-Seg stood third.
“The roads and stages here are quite wide and this helps in the initial pace-setting instead of having to worry tactically about whether to take the left outside or go for the middle,” said an elated Viviani, who had also registered two stage wins in the Abu Dhabi Tour last year.
“What was satisfying in today’s (Thursday) stage was the wind factor when we were bunched up on the desert and Palm Jumeirah phases. There was no need to bring new reserves of energy thanks to the conditions,” added Viviani, who also won his first Grand Tour stage (2) victory at the Giro d’Italia last season.
Viviani was of the view that on day one, they made a tactical error as they took the lead too early and paid the price.
“Once we went early after the roundabout it was about deciding if to go for the win or try to go for fifth or sixth place. However, today the plan was to wait, wait, wait and we did a good lead out. Once a perfect job was done, it was for me to get the result,” revealed Viviani, who felt that his condition was better than what he was in last year.
Polish rider Marcin Bialoblocki took off just after the five km mark but he was soon joined by Silvan Dillier (BMC), Koen de Kort (Giant-Alpecin) and Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai).
Bialoblocki was in tremendous form and he powered his way to win all the three intermediate sprints lined-up on the way – first at Al Qudra Cycle track after 77.2km, second at Hamdan Sports Complex after 105.5km and the third at Jumeriah Golf Estates after 137.9km.
Bialoblocki, for his efforts, pocketed 15 points and will be donning the UAE colour jersey.
The four-man break was caught with 12km to go but not before seeing Skydive Dubai’s Mancebo waging a lone battle to try and push the peloton further. Mancebo was seen waving to cameras indicating that his race was over after seeing the chasing pack fast catching up.
Many teams tried to form a beeline with the pack crossing over to the Palm-shaped island and, like in the first stage, Bradley Wiggins took to the front but his teammates again let him down.
Heading into the tunnel, everyone had a fair chance as the road was really wide. While Vivani and his teammate Ben Swift made their move from the left, Kittel and Cavendish unfortunately got pinned down right because of the crash at the exit of the tunnel. This left Sky’s Viviani to battle for the stage with Sacha and Giacomo and the first-named was the first to the tape.
Results: Dubai Tour stage two, Dubai-Palm Jumeirah (183km)
1. Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, 4:07.39
2. Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, st
4. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, st
5. Tomas Vaitkus (Lit) Al Nasr, st
6. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky, st
7. Michael Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff, st
8. Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Sprandi, st
9. Chris Opie (GBr) One Pro Cycling, st
10. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data, st
Overall standings after stage two
1. Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, 7:42.50
2. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx-Quick Step, st
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 2s
