Marcel Kittel wins Stage 2 of Dubai Tour
Quick-Step Floors' Marcel Kittel picked up his second victory in two stages to keep himself top of the overall standings at the Dubai Tour.
Stage Two was going to be nothing troubling for a peloton that includes some of the world's best sprinters - a 186 kilometre meander from Dubai to the northern most Emirate in the UAE, Ras Al Khaimah - with just a 76 metre pimple of elevation on the otherwise pan flat course.
It took a while for the eventual breakaway of the day to stick, with the group of Aqua Blue Sport's Mark Christian, Bardiani's Simone Andreetta, ONE Pro Cycling's Pete Williams, UAE Abu Dhabi's Yousif Mirza and Jempy Drucker of BMC Racing moving away after 18km.
Drucker won the first intermediate sprint after a battle with Mirza, and after an hour of racing, the quintet had forged an advantage of four minutes over the peloton. The peloton were clearly in no mood to chase until strictly necessary, with the teams of Kittel and John Degenkolb - Quick-Step and Trek-Segafredo - nonchalantly chatting at the front of the main bunch.
With the peloton far behind, the second intermediate sprint was noticeably more competitive. Mirza once again getting close but beaten by Drucker, who by now had accumulated a time bonus of six seconds.
His day's work now complete, Drucker dropped back to the peloton to aid BMC's bid to prevent a second Kittel stage win.
The stage would eventually kick into life around the man-made archipelago of Al Marjan island, with the peloton ramping up the pace and the breakaway struggling to keep the gap above one minute.
The catch was made with 11km remaining and the peloton began assembling itself into its respective lead out trains, preparing for the rapid assault on the line.
Dylan Groenewegen, wearing the white jersey for Best Young rider, went early, perhaps trying to catch out the plethora of sprinters. But it was an empty threat as far as Kittel et al were concerned, with the German powerhouse storming past the competition to assert himself at the top of the overall standings.
Kittel, who must now be extremely confident of retaining his title, holds an eight second advantage over Groenewegen with Nicola Boem still in third. After picking up six seconds on the parcours today, Drucker has leapt up to fourth, just one second off a podium spot.
Stage Three goes 200km coast to coast, starting in Dubai before heading through the desert to Al Aqah on the eastern coast of the UAE.
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| Credit: VeloNews.com |
It took a while for the eventual breakaway of the day to stick, with the group of Aqua Blue Sport's Mark Christian, Bardiani's Simone Andreetta, ONE Pro Cycling's Pete Williams, UAE Abu Dhabi's Yousif Mirza and Jempy Drucker of BMC Racing moving away after 18km.
Drucker won the first intermediate sprint after a battle with Mirza, and after an hour of racing, the quintet had forged an advantage of four minutes over the peloton. The peloton were clearly in no mood to chase until strictly necessary, with the teams of Kittel and John Degenkolb - Quick-Step and Trek-Segafredo - nonchalantly chatting at the front of the main bunch.
With the peloton far behind, the second intermediate sprint was noticeably more competitive. Mirza once again getting close but beaten by Drucker, who by now had accumulated a time bonus of six seconds.
His day's work now complete, Drucker dropped back to the peloton to aid BMC's bid to prevent a second Kittel stage win.
The stage would eventually kick into life around the man-made archipelago of Al Marjan island, with the peloton ramping up the pace and the breakaway struggling to keep the gap above one minute.
The catch was made with 11km remaining and the peloton began assembling itself into its respective lead out trains, preparing for the rapid assault on the line.
Dylan Groenewegen, wearing the white jersey for Best Young rider, went early, perhaps trying to catch out the plethora of sprinters. But it was an empty threat as far as Kittel et al were concerned, with the German powerhouse storming past the competition to assert himself at the top of the overall standings.
Kittel, who must now be extremely confident of retaining his title, holds an eight second advantage over Groenewegen with Nicola Boem still in third. After picking up six seconds on the parcours today, Drucker has leapt up to fourth, just one second off a podium spot.
Stage Three goes 200km coast to coast, starting in Dubai before heading through the desert to Al Aqah on the eastern coast of the UAE.
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