Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) repeated his success from last year and took victory on stage 1 of the UAE Tour after a chaotic sprint which saw a nasty pile-up in the final three hundred metres.
Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) opened the sprint early after most sprinters lost their leadouts during the hectic run-unto Liwa Palace from loops in the sand dunes.
Merlier avoided the crash, slingshotted around the Colombian and powered to the line to continue his brilliant start to the season.
Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Jakub Mareczko (Corratec-Vini Fantini) completed the podium after also passing Gaviria who faded to sixth in the final hundred metres. Mark Cavendish avoided the crash but was unable to take part in the sprint and finished 22nd, at least without losing any skin.
Merlier's third win of the season puts him into the overall red leader’s jersey going into the 12km stage 2 individual time trial starting and finishing in Al Hudayriyat Island.
“It’s the first WorldTour race of the season for me so a win is always nice and I’m happy this year I have a picture,” said Merlier referring to the bike-throw photo finish he had with Caleb Ewan at the 2023 edition of this race.
“I made the decision to go to the other side with 500 metres to go and I think I made a good decision there to go alone. First, I was a bit blocked and then a bit too early in the wind but Gaviria and Molano went from far out. I made a mistake when choosing the gear but when I was up to speed I came back on the two of them and the finish line was just far enough.
“I try to win every one [of the sprints], but it isn’t easy. It’s a big competition, a lot of sprinters are here - almost everyone - so I’m happy I have the first one."
Tim Merlier wins the first stage UAE Tour. Chaotic sprint, hoping the riders involved are ok. #UAETour pic.twitter.com/85z69aOguuFebruary 19, 2024
How it happened
Fears of crosswinds were high at the start of the UAE Tour’s opening stage in Al Dhafra Walk Madinat Zayed as the wind whipped the flags at the sign-on area. However, any nerves were quickly dampened as the cross-tailwind carried the peloton along at speed in the opening half of racing.
Without any chance to split the race in the initial 100 kilometres, Mark Stewart and Marco Murgano of Corratec-Vini Fantini decided to show themselves at the front of proceedings, flying the flag for the smaller ProTeams in the race.
The Scot and Italian’s advantage would go close to the four-minute mark with Soudal-Quick Step, Alpecin Deceuninck and Visma-Lease a Bike ensuring the pair remained within reach and sprint finish would be assured.
There was a moment of chaos as the peloton was bottlenecked onto the narrow Moreeb Dune cycle path for the first time with Bahrain Victorious leading the way to protect sprinter Phil Bauhaus.
Any chance of splits and tension ended quickly among the dunes as the peloton slowed and returned to its previous calm state with 50 kilometres still to race. The pace was not slow on the two 18 km circuits but the situation reformed to colour order as the dunes protected the riders from the wind. The riders knew it would not stay like that for the intense sprint run-in to Liwa.
Once Stewart and Morgano’s day out front was over after successfully claiming the black intermediate sprints jersey for the British rider, the sprint teams came to the fore and began the long wind-up towards the Liwa Palace finish with speeds upwards of 70 km/h.
No team was able to take control in the final 10 km with even Bora-Hansgrohe’s sharp run up the right-hand side of the road running out of steam. They were swamped by teams from behind them with each sprint train quickly running out of riders to put on the front.
In the last kilometre, the peloton swung left around the final roundabout with no sprinter particularly in prime position and a headwind disrupting the lead out and sparking riders to spread across the road.
Bora-Hansgrohe’s train of Danny van Poppel and Ryan Mullen were together but sprinter Sam Welsford lost them, preventing them from leading out properly. The Australian eventually finished fifth.
Merlier made his move at this point, leaving last man Bert van Lehrberge and jumping to his right in a switch across the road. That got ahead of the chaos and with clear road ahead of him, which would pay dividends come the final charge to the line.
Merlier was exposed to the head wind earlier than he would have wanted, but a typical early launch from Gaviria, followed by Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) gave Merlier the perfect wheel to follow.
The Belgian’s clear speed advantage saw him scorch past the two South Americans inside the final 100 metres and take his third stage win at the UAE Tour, adding to his pair from last season.
A messy mix of leadout riders falling back through the peloton and half of the bunch moving across from the left-hand side of the road to the right caused the mass-crash with just two hundred metres to go.
It took down riders such as Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) and Atilla Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) with around 20 riders hitting the deck in total. A Cofidis crashed high into the barriers and was taken to hospital by ambulance, while a number of other riders suffered road rash.
Michele Gazzoli gave Astana Qazaqstan teammate Harold Tejada a ride to the finish, with the Colombian sitting on his top tube as he wheeled his damaged bike to the line.
Merlier and the other sprinters will have to wait until stage 4 for their next change at a bunch finish with Tuesday’s individual time trial and the stage 3 summit finish up Jebel Jais vital for the overall classification.
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