UAE Tour 2021: Van der Poel sprints to first leader’s jersey

Results 1st stage UAE Tour 2021

1. Mathieu van der Poel (nld)
2. David Dekker (nld) s.t.
3. Michael Mørkøv (den) s.t.
4. Emils Liepins (lat) s.t.
5. Elia Viviani (ita) s.t.
6. Tadej Pogacar (slo) s.t.
7. Anthony Roux (fra) s.t.
8. Chris Harper (aus) s.t.
9. João Almeida (por) s.t.
10. Fausto Masnada (ita) s.t.

GC after stage 1
1. Mathieu van der Poel (nld)
2. David Dekker (nld) + 0.04
3. Michael Mørkøv (den) + 0.06
4. João Almeida (por) + 0.07
5. Tadej Pogacar (slo) + 0.08
6. Emils Liepins (lat) + 0.10
7. Elia Viviani (ita) + 0.10
8. Anthony Roux (fra) + 0.10
9. Chris Harper (aus) + 0.13
10. Fausto Masnada (ita) + 0.13

Race report
The race catches fires straight away with echelons from the start. Nibali, Valverde, Kuss and Higuita wind up behind, but after 20 hectic kilometres the situation calms down.

Almeida wins the first intermediate sprint, with still 111 kilometres remaining, before the peloton splits again. A first group of 26 riders – Pogacar, Yates, Caruso, Masnada and Almeida are the only GC contenders, while Van der Poel, Gaviria, Viviani and young David Dekker are the most prominent sprinters – puts almost 4 minutes into the peloton.

Almeida also wins the second intermediate sprint.

Attacks are flying in the last 10 kilometres. Cattaneo goes with 6 kilometres left, but he is caught inside the last 2 kilometres by Gaviria. The others come across with 800 meters remaining before Van der Poel powers to victory ahead of David Dekker and Michael Mørkøv.

Another interesting read: route 1st stage 2021 UAE Tour.

UAE Tour 2021 – stage 1: route, profile, tweets

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route

profile

finish

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