UAE Tour stage 1: Mathieu van der Poel wins from reduced bunch sprint, takes GC lead

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) won from a reduced bunch sprint after a fast and furious day of echelon racing at the UAE Tour on Sunday.

The Dutch supremo won from a small group in Al Mirfa after making the front echelon of 26 riders that had powered away from a shattered field in the opening hours of the race. It makes for a perfect start to the road season for van der Poel, who only three weeks ago won the cyclocross world title.

“Today was very windy, and a very hard race and I had good legs from the beginning,” van der Poel said after the race. “After the intermediate sprint a big group went away and I was with them. I knew I could finish it off in a sprint, but I didn’t expect it at all. It’s nice to start the road season with a win.”

Van der Poel had started the race merely looking to find form and act as a leadout man for others, yet the wind-battered stage meant that what could have been a straightforward bunch sprint never happened. He now takes the first leaders’ jersey of the race.

“I didn’t really expect this, I took some rest after the ‘cross season and rode for one week with the team then I came here  – I guess this is cyclocross shape in the desert,” van der Poel said.

David Dekker (Jumbo Visma) took second and Michael Morkov (Decuninck-Quick-Step) finished third in the final gallop.

Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and defending champ Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) took an early advantage in the GC battle by coming home in the lead group to secure over four minutes on their rivals for the classification.

The second stage Monday is a 13 kilometer ITT.

Early echelons in furious start to the race

Despite being pan-flat a parcours, it was no Sunday cruise to open the WorldTour.

Crosswinds ripped across the desert and Ineos Grenadiers forced an echelon to split the race into at least three groups in the opening kilometer of the race, with Deceuninck-Quick-Step and Bahrain-Victorious also aggressive in making the front echelon.

The pace stayed sky-high through the first hour as the chasers looked to pull back the lead group. It wasn’t until the race changed direction that the bunch all came back together after around 40 kilometers of racing.

More echelons as crosswinds batter the peloton

🇦🇪#UAETour

It was just the calm before the storm as the peloton has split into four groups once again. @dekkerdavid and @chrisharper94 have made the front split for us. pic.twitter.com/9u4ufvVh4a

— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) February 21, 2021

It took less than an hour until the racecourse changed directions and kicked up more crosswinds for the race to slice into four echelons as coastal winds battered the bunch.

Pogačar, Fernando Gaviria and a handful other UAE Team Emirates riders made the front group along with van der Poel, Yates, Nielson Powless, Elia Viviani, Almeida, and a number of his Quick-Step teammates. That lead echelon soon powered to a 90 second lead over a large chase echelon of over 50 which included top sprinters Caleb Ewan, Pascal Ackermann and Sam Bennett.

Chris Froome was in one of the last groups on the road.

Heading into the closing circuit at 40km to go, the lead group had nearly two minutes making a reduced sprint inevitable.

Several riders launched hopeful attacks out of the lead group in the final 10km with Mattia Cattaneo and Gaviria coming close to staying away, but it was not to be as a number of Quick-Step riders chased them down to set up the final kick to the line.