PARIS, France – Briton Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step) won the second stage of the UAE Tour, the first WorldTour race of the cycling season, in Abu Dhabi on Monday, ahead of Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) who retains the leader’s red jersey.
After 173 km completely flat and largely covered in slow motion by the peloton, which descended to an average speed of 20 km / h, Cavendish narrowly outstripped Philipsen, winner of the 1st stage on Sunday, also in the sprint.
“I knew we could win here,” reacted Cavendish, shortly after crossing the line as the winner for the 158th time in his career. “A third of our team are neo-pros, so it’s only the second race of their careers and they were super professional today,” he added.
“Their job was to take me as fresh as possible to the finish and they did it so well that I was able to start 300 or 350m from the finish, into the wind. I’m happy to have managed to stay ahead of Philipsen,” said the Quick Step sprinter.
The Belgian retains the lead in the general standings with a four-second lead over Russian Dimitri Strakhov (Gazprom), the main beneficiary of this hot day when he took a lot of bonus points in the intermediate sprints, and with a six-second lead over Cavendish.
“I was just missing a few watts today,” Philipsen said. “I was a little far behind when it started at the end. I knew it would be a tough sprint because of the headwind and Mark was faster. I’m a little disappointed but I’ll still try to get the win in the next sprint. »
The podium of this second stage was completed by the German Pascal Ackermann (UAE), well launched in the last kilometers by his team which is playing at home this week, but who missed a few meters against Cavendish and Philipsen.
Frenchman Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) also tried his luck at the end, when the peloton started to accelerate crossing the center of Abu Dhabi by its main arteries, but he had to settle for 5th place of the day. He is in the top-10 overall, just 16 seconds behind Philipsen.
On Tuesday, Stage 3 will be a 9km individual time trial around the city of Ajman.
