(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) UAE Team Emirates' Alexander Kristoff secured the desert stage of 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour on Wednesday. Home team's Kristoff became the proud owner of race leader's Red jersey with best time and Green jersey on point classifications.
Kristoff finished the 189-km Madinat Zayed opening stage in 4 hours, 48 minutes and 14 seconds and earned 20 points for his efforts. He was .04 seconds faster than Bardiani CSF's Andrea Guardini and .06 seconds than Mitchelton-Scott's Caleb Ewan, who also bagged the White jersey for Best Young Rider.
There was a big setback as Dimension Data rider and race ambassador Mark Cavendish retired after a crash in 6.2km neutral zone. He rejoined the peloton at the start but abandoned the race after 5km of racing following a concussion. Also, Lotto Soudal's Armee Sander didn't start following a crash in the neutral zone.
Gazprom-RusVelo's Nikolay Trusov was among the early breakaway group and the Russian rider took the Liwa intermediate sprint. Meanwhile, Trek-Segafredo's Toms Skujins also among the initial breakaway group secured the intermediate sprint during the second passage at Liwa.
However, soon the bunch was overtaken by experienced legs.
The final stretch saw Kristoff pip Ewan. This is his second win for UAE Team Emirates following a last stage performance in Tour of Oman. And Kristoff was ecstatic to have started home Tour with a victory.
"It's a great win for me and also for the team on home ground. Now we can turn the pressure down a little bit. This is our home race. It's fantastic for me to take my second win of the season here after the last stage of the Tour of Oman last week. I have to thank my team-mates. I wouldn't have done it without them. It's a great feeling to win as a team."
Kristoff said it was a tight race and the team will push for every available point.
"A race with tailwind and headwind but very few crosswinds it's not easy for me to beat all the pure sprinters but the slightly uphill end suited me. In the final straight line, I lost my lead-out man Roberto Ferrari but I found the wheel of Caleb Ewan. He's a really good sprinter but I managed to come around him and keep the lead all the way till the line despite the head wind."
Kristoff said he is relieved to have bagged classification points for the team.
"I'm delighted to ride with the Red Jersey. I'll have another two chances for a bunch sprint finish but the GC is more important for the team. However, the time trial makes it more difficult for us to win the Abu Dhabi Tour this year but we'll try," he added.
Meanwhile, Ewan felt undone with the result and blamed his sprint timings.
"I was a little bit forced into going early. I didn't want to hesitate against the headwind because I'd lose all my speed. It was probably about 50m earlier than I hoped to have gone but I just had to hit out and try to hold on. It was a little bit too long for me. I'll come for revenge. I feel very good. I must not repeat the same little mistake again."
Now the race moves to Yas Island Stage of 148km on wide road.
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