UAE Team Emirates banked the first stage win of its home tour after superstar sprinter Fernando Gaviria out powered his rivals in an action packed bunch sprint finish to take a well earned victory in Abu Dhabi.
Stage two of the UAE Tour was a pan flat affair taking the peloton out of Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall before looping back in to the city centre to wrap up a 184km route at the Big Flag on the Corniche.
A breakaway formed early on and was allowed to stretch its lead to the six minute mark before slowly being reeled back in with 14kms to go – Vegard Stake Laengen doing a big turn on the front to ensure that Gaviria was pulled into a prime position for the decisive part of the race.
With 10kms to go the teams started vying for position and the lead out trains began to find their sprinters.
At the 4km mark UAE Team Emirates decided it was time to come to the front of the pack, Alexander Kristoff carefully guiding Fernando Gaviria through the bunch and keeping him safe as the peloton began to surge.
200m before the finish line, the road curved to the left and Gaviria saw his opportunity to put the hammer down – exploding past his lead out man Kristoff.
He timed his acceleration to perfection and held off his closest rival, Elia Viviani to cross the line in first place with a time of 4 hours 36 mins.
Commenting on his stage victory, Gaviria said: “This wins means a lot to me, the team and our sponsors. It was a difficult sprint because of the head wind, but I had good legs, so I could go with 200m and hold off the others.
“Kristoff is one of the best sprinters in the world and today he did a great job of supporting me along with the rest of the team, so I am very happy.”
The win is Gaviria’s third of the season and takes UAE Team Emirates’ tally to nine, after team mate Tadej Pogacar wrapped up the Volta ao Algarve with a win in the General Classification in Portugal yesterday afternoon.
Gaviria will carry the green points jersey into stage three, while Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) remains in the red leader’s jersey.