Cycling: Since this season, Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) has been wearing a blue jersey all the time anyway. On the Dubai Tour, however, the Italian was allowed to swap his Quick-Step jersey for THE blue jersey. After he already die second stage was able to win, he also secured the fifth and last section today at noon and thus the overall victory of the Dubai Tour 2018.
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Many outliers - no chances
On the final stage of the Dubai Tour, the peloton had to cover 129 kilometers from Skydive Dubai to Dubai City Walk. The profile was, as usual, flat and ripe for a mass sprint. Nevertheless, there were significantly more attacks today than in previous days. Four professionals formed the day's breakaway: Daniel Pearson (Aqua Blue Sport), Xiao Long Sun (Mitchelton-Bike Exchange), Quentin Valognes (Novo Nordisk), and Nasser Saif Saeed Ali Almemari (United Arab Emirates). During the stage, the leading group splintered, leaving Pearson to ride solo to the finish. The peloton – largely led by Katusha-Alpecin and Quick-Step Floors – didn't really give him a chance, despite his lead of several minutes at times. The Briton was caught early – too early, because further attacks followed, keeping the sprinters' teams busy.
Fall in the last kilometer
Robert Stannard (Mitchelton-Bike Exchange) and his teammate Jacob Hennessey attacked together and were initially dropped by the field. However, a few kilometers before the finish, this duo was also caught. As expected, the Dubai Tour was set to be another bunch sprint. As in previous days, the battles for position began many kilometers before the finish line. On the final 1.000 The fall occurred at a height of 10 meters. Bouhanni born (Cofidis) vacated Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) and other professionals. Among other things also came Mark Cavendish to stand.
Viviani thanks Fabio Sabatini, his teammate. La manera en que remonta posiciones tras la caída es tremendo #DubaiTour pic.twitter.com/2b1d6tW32S
— Diego Vos ~Ciclismo~ (@diegovos_) February 10, 2018
Viviani wins after preparatory work by Sabatini
Only a small group battled for the stage win, including Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin), who wasn't really involved in the sprint. His teammate and compatriot Rick Zabel, however, was. He was setting up the attack for the Austrian Marco Haller . But one rider was even faster: Elia Viviani ! The Italian celebrated his third victory this year and thus also the overall win at the Dubai Tour. He has his lead-out man Fabio Sabatini to thank for this, as Sabatini once again put him in a perfect position. Behind Elia Viviani, Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana) finished second overall, ahead of Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida). For the German sprinters Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), the Dubai Tour ended rather disappointingly. The season start, however, went very differently for Team Quick-Step Floors. With today's stage and overall victory, the team has already achieved an incredible ten wins in 2018.
#DubaiTour – Final GC
🥇- @eliaviviani
🥈- @MagnusCort
🥉- @sonnycolbrelli pic.twitter.com/HzTWUu80bN— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) February 10, 2018