Cav' Posted February 19, 2018 Posted February 19, 2018 Variety is the byword for the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour Now extended to five days in length, the route is a mixed one, with opportunities for sprinters, climbers and – a novelty for 2018 – time triallists. The Abu Dhabi peloton, meanwhile, is also a diverse one. Some riders who have been in action since mid-January will be keen to amass points in the second WorldTour event of the year. Others, just starting their seasons, might well be moving a little more gingerly in Abu Dhabi. Dumoulin (Sunweb) and Aru (UAE Team Emirates) are the most notable among the riders beginning their campaigns at the Abu Dhabi Tour, and while both men have designs on the Giro d'Italia – Aru, incidentally, has yet to offer formal confirmation of his participation – they will each be expected to offer some signs of life here. Aru, riding in the home country of his new employers, will look to impress on the concluding summit finish at Jebel Hafeet. Dumoulin, who placed third on that climb and thus third overall a year ago, will have an additional opportunity to stake a claim for GC victory with the 11.8km time trial on the preceding afternoon. Dumoulin will be flanked by Wilco Kelderman in the Sunweb line-up in what is set to be their only appearance together this side of the Tour de France. With Kelderman looking to reach a peak in the spring before building up again for July, he might be the more likely option for Sunweb here. Similarly, Aru will be accompanied on the UAE Team Emirates squad by Rui Costa, who won this race in 2017, though the time trial might prove an impediment to the Portuguese rider this time out. Regardless of who leads the line elsewhere, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) looks the man to beat for overall honours. The 37-year-old seemed to possess an extra gear to the rest as he won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana earlier in the month, and with WorldTour points on offer here, it would be a surprise if he was not in the mix. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), a narrow second a year ago, is in Abu Dhabi for his first race of the year, and will expect to ride strongly in each of the final two stages, as will Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) and Rohan Dennis (BMC). Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) illuminated the Vuelta a España in September and will look to stretch his legs on the ascent of Jebel Hafeet, an ascent that might also prove to the liking of Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida). It will be fascinating, too, to see what the EF Education First-Drapac duo of Michael Woods and Pierre Rolland can conjure up on the race's principal climb. Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) arrives in the United Arab Emirates under a cloud after some unflattering reports in the Italian press last weekend, the contents of which he has denied. Davide Formolo lines out alongside him in his first race in Bora-Hansgrohe colours. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) looked on song at the recent Colombia Oro y Paz race, and the climb of Jebel Hafeet will not faze him. He placed 5th overall a year ago, and will look to impress again as he builds towards a tilt at Paris-Nice. The short time trial, meanwhile, will not be the lone preserve of Dumoulin. Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo), winner of the final time trial at the Giro, should perform well here, together with Dennis, Kelderman, Steve Cummings (Dimension Data), Alex Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin), Svein Tuft (Mitchelton-Scott) and Jonathan Castroviejo, who will be riding his first time trial as a Team Sky rider. Sprinters and classics menThe tussle for overall honours is only part of the bill at the Abu Dhabi Tour, of course, and the first three stages offer opportunities for the fast men to open their accounts or add to their running tallies for the season.Elia Viviani (Quick-Step) was in sparkling form in Dubai and, backed by a fine Quick-Step train, can chalk up more success here. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) perhaps surpassed his own expectations by clocking up an early win in Dubai, and after another week of racing in Oman, will be even sharper here. Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) showcased his form by winning the Clasica de Almeria last weekend, while André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) bookended his Tour Down Under appearance with two stage wins. Alexander Kristoff (UAE-Team Emirates) and Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) have yet to notch up wins for their new teams and it remains to be seen if that additional pressure proves to be a motivation or an impediment.The competition will be ferocious, in any case, with other fast men like Dan McLay (Education First-Drapac) and Andrea Guardini (Bardiani-CSF) in the mix. The routeThe mixed parcours of the Abu Dhabi Tour means the race pitches itself somewhere midway between the avowedly sprinter-friendly Dubai Tour and the rather more rugged terrain of the Tour of Oman. The three flat stages early on should give the fast men ample opportunity to do battle, before the serious business of the general classification takes centre stage with a time trial and a tricky summit finish on the final two days. Stage 1 features a 189km trek through the desert before the likely bunch sprint in Madinat Zayed, stage 2 includes a sweep along the seafront before the finish at Yas Island, while the short, 133km route of stage 3 is a largely city-centre affair.The 11.8km time trial on stage 4 is on a pan flat, urban course, which means that wind ought not to be a significant factor. Given that only the time bonus atop Jebel Hafeet separated Rui Costa and Zakarin in the GC a year ago, the penultimate stage looks like being the decisive one.It will, in any case, set up stage 5 as something of a handicap race. Riders like Dumoulin and Kelderman will hold an advantage, and the onus will be on Lopez, Aru et al to attack them on the final haul up Jebel Hafeet. The 10.8km ascent is the only climb across the entire five days, and the transition from flat roads to gradients of 11% (and an average of 6.6%) could be a brutal one. Source: Cycling Newshttp://cdn.media.cyclingnews.com/2018/01/05/2/gettyimages_901166706_670.jpg
Cav' Posted February 19, 2018 Author Posted February 19, 2018 UAE-Team Emirates1 COSTA Rui2 ARU Fabio3 BYSTRØM Sven Erik4 FERRARI Roberto5 KRISTOFF Alexander6 MORI Manuele7 ULISSI DiegoAG2R La Mondiale11 COSNEFROY Benoit12 BIDARD François13 CHEVRIER Clément14 FRANK Mathias15 GASTAUER Ben16 GENIEZ Alexandre17 MONTAGUTI Matteo Astana Pro Team21 LOPEZ Miguel Angel22 BILBAO Pello23 CATALDO Dario24 HANSEN Jesper25 MINALI Riccardo26 VILLELLA Davide27 ZEITS Andrey Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team31 POZZOVIVO Domenico32 BONIFAZIO Niccolo33 GASPAROTTO Enrico34 IZAGIRRE Ion35 MOHORIC Matej36 NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas37 NOVAK Domen Bardiani - CSF41 GUARDINI Andrea42 ALBANESE Vincenzo43 BRESCIANI Michael44 CICCONE Giulio45 MAESTRI Mirco46 MARONESE Marco47 TONELLI Alessandro BMC Racing Team51 DENNIS Rohan52 BEVIN Patrick53 BOOKWALTER Brent54 CARUSO Damiano55 FRANKINY Kilian56 ROSSKOPF Joey57 SCOTSON Miles
Cav' Posted February 19, 2018 Author Posted February 19, 2018 BORA - hansgrohe61 MAJKA Rafał62 ACKERMANN Pascal63 BAŠKA Erik64 BUCHMANN Emanuel65 FORMOLO Davide66 POLJANSKI Pawel67 SAGAN JurajGazprom-RusVelo71 FIRSANOV Sergey72 ARSLANOV Ildar73 BOEV Igor74 NYCH Artem75 PORSEV Alexander76 SHALUNOV Evgeny77 TRUSOV NikolayLotto Soudal81 GREIPEL André82 ARMÉE Sander83 FRISON Frederik84 HANSEN Adam85 MERTZ Remy86 SHAW James 87 SIEBERG Marcel Mitchelton-Scott91 YATES Simon92 EWAN Caleb93 KREUZIGER Roman94 MEZGEC Luka95 KLUGE Roger96 TUFT Svein97 BAUER JackMovistar Team101 VALVERDE Alejandro102 BENNATI Daniele103 DE LA PARTE Víctor104 PEDRERO Antonio105 ROJAS José Joaquín106 SÜTTERLIN Jasha107 VALLS Rafael108 QUINTANA Dayer Quick-Step Floors111 ALAPHILIPPE Julian112 HODEG Álvaro José113 KNOX James114 MAS Enric115 MØRKØV Michael116 SABATINI Fabio117 VIVIANI Elia Dimension Data121 CAVENDISH Mark122 CUMMINGS Stephen123 DAVIES Scott124 DEBESAY Mekseb125 MORTON Lachlan126 RENSHAW Mark127 VENTER Jaco Team EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale131 ROLLAND Pierre132 CRADDOCK Lawson133 MAGNUSSON Kim134 MCLAY Daniel135 MORENO Daniel136 PHINNEY Taylor137 WOODS MichaelTeam Katusha - Alpecin141 KITTEL Marcel142 BELKOV Maxim143 DOWSETT Alex144 HALLER Marco145 KOCHETKOV Pavel146 ZABEL Rick147 ZAKARIN Ilnur Team LottoNL-Jumbo151 VAN EMDEN Jos152 EENKHOORN Pascal153 POWLESS Neilson154 TOLHOEK Antwan155 VAN HOECKE Gijs156 VAN POPPEL Danny157 WAGNER RobertTeam Novo Nordisk161 PERON Andrea162 BRAND Sam163 GIOUX Romain164 HENTTALA Joonas165 LOZANO David166 PLANET Charles167 VAN IJZENDOORN RikTeam Sky171 CASTROVIEJO Jonathan172 BASSO Leonardo173 HALVORSEN Kristoffer174 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao175 HENAO Sebastián176 LOPEZ David177 ROWE Luke Team Sunweb 181 DUMOULIN Tom182 ARNDT Nikias183 BAUHAUS Phil184 FRÖHLINGER Johannes185 HOFSTEDE Lennard186 KELDERMAN Wilco187 TEUNISSEN MikeTrek - Segafredo191 BRAMBILLA Gianluca192 BRÄNDLE Matthias193 EG Niklas194 FRAME Alex195 GOGL Michael196 GRMAY Tsgabu197 SKUJIŅŠ Toms
Nick Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 Cavendish out. Crashed in the neutral zone and later abandoned.
Long Wheel Base Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 Cavendish out. Crashed in the neutral zone and later abandoned.Damn. He seems to crash a lot more lately.
Geronimo Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 Damn. He seems to crash a lot more lately.It's a bummer. Wonder how Dimension data feels about all these abandonments...
Long Wheel Base Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 It's a bummer. Wonder how Dimension data feels about all these abandonments...ROI not looking so good. I feel sorry for him. Since he has "matured" I have started having respect for the guy. What really made me have respect for him was at the start of the 2015 short argus. We were in the start pen behind the elites and Mark was standing at the back right in front of us. With a few min to go from the start they played our national anthem. As it started Mark took his helmet off for the duration of the anthem.To me that shows how much respect he has. I think he was the only person out of the thousands standing there to do that. Flip I felt embarrassed that a foreigner removed his helmet during our anthem.
Shebeen Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 It's a bummer. Wonder how Dimension data feels about all these abandonments...if they only pay him per km ridden it would be cheap!
'Dale Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 ROI not looking so good. I feel sorry for him. Since he has "matured" I have started having respect for the guy. What really made me have respect for him was at the start of the 2015 short argus. We were in the start pen behind the elites and Mark was standing at the back right in front of us. With a few min to go from the start they played our national anthem. As it started Mark took his helmet off for the duration of the anthem.To me that shows how much respect he has. I think he was the only person out of the thousands standing there to do that. Flip I felt embarrassed that a foreigner removed his helmet during our anthem.Cool anecdote, LWB He’s a class actTemperamental and eccentric too - like any other sprinter
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