Cavendish begins Abu Dhabi Tour with win amid disc brake controversy

Dimension Data's Mark Cavendish looks to still be in top form as he sprinted to victory on Stage One of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour, as a crash once again raised the issue of disc brakes.

Credit: roadcyclinguk.com
Cavendish held off the likes of Lotto Soudal's Andre Griepel, Bahrain Merida's Niccolo Bonifazio and UAE Abu Dhabi's Simone Consonni to claim Stage One moments after a nasty crash resulted in Team Sky's Owain Doull's shoe being sliced through by a disc brake - refueling the argument whether or not they are too dangerous to be used in the pro peloton.

2017 sees the Abu Dhabi Tour become a WorldTour calendar event for the first time, and Stage One took a star studded peloton on a 189 kilometre out and back ride starting and finishing in Madinat Zayed - the largest region in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

A six man break formed promptly from the start, building a five minute advantage after the opening 57km and Manuele Mori of UAE Abu Dhabi taking eight points and three bonus seconds at the first intermediate sprint ahead of Mirco Maestri of Bardiani and Nippo - Vini Fantini's Kazushige Kuboki.

60km to go and the peloton had brought the time gap down significantly, a far more manageable one minute ten seconds.

After splitting the break, Mori and Kuboki once again contested the second intermediate sprint, this time battling with Astana's Artem Zakharov. Mori came out on top, ensuring he'd be wearing the intermediate sprinters jersey come the podium presentation and Stage Two.

It took another 45km for the remnants of the break to be caught however, the field coming back together 16km before the sprint finish.

Within the last kilometre however was when the incident occurred. Quick-Step Floors' Marcel Kittel and Doull were two riders involved in a large crash that left multiple riders lying in shock. Doull got up relatively quickly, but was clearly favouring his right foot, which he elaborated on Twitter.

Credit: @owaindoull
 This latest incident once again raises questions over the use of disc brakes. They may offer better braking, however surely the safety of the riders has to be considered first and these incidents of riders being cut by them in crashes only reinforces the argument against them.

Controversy aside, Cavendish takes the red jersey and a four second lead into Stage Two ahead of Griepel and Bonifazio.


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