The 2nd stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour came down to another expected bunch sprint with Elia Viviani (Team Sky) taking the spoils. Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) was 2nd and Fabio Sabatini (Etixx-Quickstep) was 3rd.
For MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung it wouldn’t be the best of days as our ace sprint card, Theo Bos crashed out of the tour halfway through today’s stage. Theo crashed heavily on his left side during a crash which also took Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quickstep) out of the race. Songezo Jim, racing in the white best young rider jersey also hit the tarmac in the same accident but was fortunately able to carry on, albeit battered and bruised.
With Theo out of the equation and a sure drag race to the line today, our African team’s plan B was then also extinguished when Matt Goss punctured during the finale of the stage. So unfortunately our boys had to sit this one out and just kept an eye on tomorrows GC stage. With Daniel Teklehaimanot having not lost any time on the main GC rivals and Songezo now in 11th place overall, our African team will be looking to make the most of our opportunity on the way to Jebel Hafeet tomorrow.
Jens Zemke – Head of Performance
