The stage start on Tarif - Liwa Road, the main road passing straight through the center of Madīnat Zāyid. From there straight south in the dessert heading for The Liwa Oasis (Wāḥḥat Līwā), we take a short sweep in the Oasis before he hard back to Madīnat Zāyid finishing at ADNOC School.
The route is almost completely flat, so unless we are hit by a sandstorm we must expect a mass sprint finish.
Madīnat Zāyid is the largest town in the Al Gharbia region of Abu Dhabi Emirate, with a population of about 30.000. The town is located 20 km from the large Habshan oil and gas field.
Top 5 media favorites:
Arnaud Démare (FDJ) Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto – Jumbo) Alexander Kristoff (UAE) Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
Liwa Oasis located on the northern edge of Rub' al Khali desert, stretches about 100 km east-west, the Oasis houses 39 villages, and a large resort hotel.
Race
Km: 143
Juraj Sagan (BORA) opens the stage with Peter Koning (Aqua Blue) and Florian Sénéchal (Quick-Step), not too far back also Marino Kobayashi (NIPPO)
Before the first intermediate sprint Elmar Reinders (Roompot) joins the breakaway, but Kobayashi still not able to close the gap, hanging almost 45” behind at this point the peloton at 4’52”
Sénéchal wins the point sprint in front of Sagan and Reinders
30 years old Juraj Sagan was born in Žilina in Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia. Besides two national Championships, his best result was winning Grand Prix Boka in 2009
Km: 104
Sénéchal also wins the 2nd point sprint again in front of Sagan and Reinders, now the distance reduced to 2’56” and only the breakaway left in front of the bunch.
From here the peloton up the pace and the distance melts away fast, under the 10 km banner it is down to 27”
With 6 km left the breakaway is almost over, but Sénéchal gives it a final shot.
24 years old French Florian Sénéchal, finished 17th in Paris-Roubaix 2015, a good result considering his age, just take a look at some of the riders in the group he came in with: Kristoff, Vanmarcke, Terpstra and Sagan.
Km 0
Florian Sénéchal does not make it with 2.6 km left the breakaway was over.
Under the red kite Mark Cavendish launches quite early and the same goes for Juan Jose Lobato (NIPPO) Dimension Data.
All the other favourites were caught by the move and were never able to close the gap. Cavendish wins in Madīnat Zāyid, Lobato 2nd and Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain) takes the final podium.
32 years old Mark Cavendish from Isle of Man, have won 30 stages in Tour de France, the first in 2008 the last in 2016
Astana Pro Team
We were not only caught by surprise but also mistimed the sprint setup, with Lutsenko in front of Cort, a total collapse to say it mildly
The stage start and finish at Yas Island just next to Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Starting from Yas Mall shopping center, we are heading north for Khalifa Port, passing Emirates Park Zoo and Al Samha town, when we get to the Port we make a U-turn back to Yas Island this time along the coast. We finish at Yas beach just 5 km from where we started.
The route is short and very flat so again we must expect a mass sprint finish
Yas Island is an island located about 35 km north of Abu Dhabi city centre, developed into a multi-purpose leisure, shopping and entertainment center, with golf course, race circuit, marina, concert venue, beach, hotels etc. the island is 25 square km.
Top 5 media favorites:
Arnaud Démare (FDJ) Alexander Kristoff (UAE) Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto – Jumbo) Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
Yas Marina Circuit is hosting the annual F1 race, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Race
Km: 80
Daniel Teklehaimanot (Cofidis) opens the stage, he is soon to be joined by another four riders Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue), Nicola Conci (Trek), Lukas Pöstlberger (BORA) and Florian Sénéchal (Quick-Step) who was also very active yesterday.
The group builds up a lead of about a minute, but gap opens very slowly with a fast peloton keeping a pace well above 40 km/hour
Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot Girmazion had his best season in 2015, winning the Mountains classification in Critérium du Dauphiné and also wearing polka dots after stage 6-9 in Tour de France
Km: 50
The intense pressure from the bunch was too much for the breakaway riders to handle, after about 65 km of very hard pursuit the breakaway was over.
Closing in on the first points sprint we get a move from Michael Mørkøv (Quick-Step) likely just to get a head start in the sprint, but he was not fast enough.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) wins the sprint in front of Alexander Kristoff (UAE)
Even though Cavendish has the 2nd most TDF stage victories, 4 less that legendary Eddy Merckx, he only won the points jersey in 2011
Km: 17
Michael Mørkøv do not fall back with the other sprinters, after the first sprint, he continues alone and open a gap of more than 1’30”.
The peloton did speed up, but Mørkøv was able to take the 2nd points sprint.
But the peloton not in the mood for a breakaway win and with 17 km to the line is was over for Mørkøv, especially Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data) putting a lot of calories into the chase.
32 years old Michael Mørkøv’s best result was winning a stage in Vuelta a España 2013
Km: 0
3 km left, it is Sven Erik Bystrøm leading for UAE Team Emirates and Omar Fraile leading for Astana Pro Team approaching the final mass sprint coming up soon.
The peloton almost complete with 168 riders, most of them with fresh legs after a short stage
As we saw also yerstersay, even with little help from his team Mark Cavendish is clearly the fastest over the last kilometre, beating everyone in what became a very close finish
Simone Consonni (UAE) 2nd and Magnus Cort Nielsen 3rd, both with help from a strong teamwork.
This was Mark Cavendish 2 stage win in a row and third season win after also taking a stage in Tour Down Under
Astana Pro Team
After a disappointing race opener yesterday, we are very happy to achieve one of our race goals with a stage podium
Our setup with Fraile - Lutsenko - Cort worked well, with also Alexey in top 5.
The stage start on the south west end of Corniche Road by Nation Towers located close to Emirates Palace. From there a circular route, first south east for a sprint in Al Wathba, then north for a sprint in Al Falah.
Then west passing Yas Island heading for Saadiyat Island and finally back via Corniche Road for a finish at Al Marina just 2 km from where we started.
The route is again rather short and very flat, again we must expect a mass sprint finish.
Settlements from Umm al-Nar culture have been found in the area of modern day Abu Dhabi, a Bronze Age culture that existed around 2600-2000 BCE.
Present day Abu Dhabi was founded in the late 1700’s by the Al Bu Falah subsection of Bani Yas bedouins coming from Liwa Oasis
Top 5 media favorites:
Arnaud Démare (FDJ) Alexander Kristoff (UAE) Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto – Jumbo) Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
Abu Dhabi Skyline seen from Abu Dhabi Marina
Race
Km: 108
Maxime Daniel (Fortuneo), with Nikolai Trusov (Gazprom) at wheel. They never get anywhere but Trusov was also involved in the next attempt with Florian Sénéchal (Quick-Step), Florian Vachon (Fortuneo), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Nicola Conci (Trek) and Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) but again with no luck.
More than 10 km of fast constant chasing have passes, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Soudal) accelerates with Nicola Conci. This move will result in a more firmly established breakaway soon joined by Nikolai Trusov, Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue) and Nils Politt (Katusha).
The exhausting high pace and new attacks are not over, first Elmar Reinders (Roompot) attacks but fail, then we see Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha), Loïc Chetout (Cofidis) and Florian Vachon attack from the peloton.
The distance from the original breakaway to the bunch has never exceeded a minute so far.
Marcel Sieberg initiates what seems to be the breakaway of the day, the 35 yeard old Greman veteran have been a professional riders since 2005, born in Castrop-Rauxel part of Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region
Km: 95
Only Florian Vachon survives from the latest attack and meanwhile Jhonatan Restrepo fall back to him from the original breakaway
Nicola Conci either gives up or gets a team order, he fall back to the bunch and same goes for Michel Kreder and Nikolai Trusov a bit later.
Florian Vachon and Jhonatan Restrepo make contact with Marcel Sieberg and Nils Politt to form a new leading group, but they don’t stick together for long, Vachon attacks from the breakaway.
Florian Vachon wins the first intermediate sprint. The bunch at 1’18 with the other riders spread out inbetween including Kiel Reijnen (Trek) who has also attacked from the peloton
33 years old French Florian Vachon have had a fine season start with two stage podiums in Colombia, his best result to date was winning Paris-Bourges in 2012
Km: 1.7
For a while the breakaway unite again but without Jhonatan Restrepo who drops back and just as well because with 58 km left it was all over.
The 2nd points sprint comes down to a shootout between the top sprinters, Sam Bennett (Bora) in front of Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Juan Jose Lobato (NIPPO)
After the sprint we get several attempts to form a new breakaway mainly by riders previously in breakaway attempts: Michel Kreder, Nicola Conci, Kiel Reijnen, Lasse Hansen (Aqua Blue), Nils Politt but none successful.
It comes to a mass sprint, Ramon Sinkeldam (FDJ) for Arnaud Démare, Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data) for Mark Cavendish ahead of the bunch when the sprint opens.
29 years old Dutch Ramon Sinkeldam have six proffesional wins, amonsts them the ”National Championships Netherlands” last season
Km: 0
Seems like FDJ and especially Dimension Data mistimed this one completely, sitting in the wind way to early, a large group of riders catch them under the red kite and some had more left in the tank.
Today’s fast man was Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) taking a clear win with time to celebrate over the finish line.
André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) 2nd and Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain) takes the last podium.
25 years old French Christophe Laporte have been with Cofidis since 2014, his best and only wins Tour de Vendée in 2015 and 2017
Astana Pro Team
After a great day yesterday, we were never able to come close today, the setup was fine but the stage was too hard for us to compete in the end.
Dust and sand storms led to low visibility across the UAE this morning.
The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology warned about the poor visibility and asked the population to spend as little time outside as possible during a storm. Resulting in Abu Dhabi Sports Council to terminate stage 4.
See full explanation:
Spoiler
The game just moved on to the next stage, and also created a doublet result from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, giving Nikolas Maes a nice point boost. The game just continues to stage 5, without creating any result from stage four, so not a forced sim.
Never seen anything like this before, likely my fault as I did use the editor to change Classique de l'Ardêche into the 2018 variant
Squad:
Michael Valgren - Moreno Moser - Andriy Grivko - Yevgeniy Gidich
Laurens De Vreese - Hugo Houle - Nikita Stalnov
Expectations:
With Michael Valgren’s form curve significantly improved we are expection a top result here, might not be able to beat Bardet, but anything outside a podium is unacceptable.
The race start and finish in Guilherand-Granges, a ”Commune française” located in the west bank of ”Le Rhône” river, just opposite the larger city Valence which is not a part of The Ardèche department.
The race is composed first by three laps exploring hard climbs in The Massif Central, from Guilherand-Granges climbing up northwest to Saint-Romain-de-Lerps, from there still in the highland down south to Alboussière, then south over Col de Leyrisse before we head back to Guilherand-Granges.
After these three laps taking up more than 160 km of the race we have a final short and more punchy about 30 km left with two hill climbs. This time we start moving east to the river before we head north to Cornas and then west for the climb passing two tiny villages Tracol Ulysse and Saussé, before heading southeast back to Guilherand-Granges passing a short hilly climb on Chemin de Toulaud with 5 km left.
Guilherand-Granges was originaly two seperate locations, Guilherand was a tiny village at the foot of a Crussol hill the location of a 12 century castle. Les Granges a hamlet located along the Rhone at the entrance of the bridge leading to Valence.
Top 5 media favorites:
Romain Bardet (AG2R) Nairo Quintana (Movistar) Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)
Warren Barguil (Fortuneo) Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb)
Château de Crussol – from l'Album du Vivarais, Albert Dubois, 1842
Race
Km: 136
Alvaro José Hodeg (Quick-Step) opens the race alone, behind him two groups are attempting to close up.
The first led by Victor Lafay (Cofidis) with him Nikita Stalnov, Jay Thomson (Dimension Data), Alexandr Riabushenko (UAE), James Shaw (Lotto Soudal) and Pierre Gouault (Roubaix)
Further back Simone Antonini (Wanty), Roberto Ferrari (UAE) and Thomas Deruette (Aqua Protect) but this group will not make it into the breakaway.
The leading seven riders passes the first mountain top with 6’11.
It is raining pretty bad and we get first a solo crash by Leopold König (BORA), later a huge crash of 17 riders holding another 52 riders back, but the pace is quite relaxed at this point and all gets back, except Delko Marseille’s Iuri Filosi who was pick up by an ambulance and sent to the nearby Private Hospital Drôme Ardèche.
21 years old Alvaro José Hodeg, started as a trainee with Quick-Step last season and already showed some good potential with a 5th on the very first world tour stage of this season in TDU
Km: 69
The weather conditions continues to play their part, amongst many others Andrey Amador (Movistar) was down in-between the first two climbs.
On the downhill from the 2nd climb also a crash in the breakaway taking Nikita Stalnov, Alvaro José Hodeg and Victor Lafay down, they all get back up but their hopes for a surprise result have vanished they will never get back.
We are on the hard part at the last of the three “mountain” climbs, the four riders left in the breakaway has 1’06”
Crash in the breakaway
Km 5
Quentin Pacher (Vital Concept) attack and joins the breakaway over the top.
On the downhill the crashing continues, with several smal groups if riders down. Leopold König down again, Julien El Fares (Delko), Jonathan Hivert (Direct Energie) Johannes Fröhlinger (Sunweb) and Andriy Grivko to name a few. At this late point they won’t make it back to the bunch.
With about 25 km left the breakaway has 1’19”, now Astana sets in a relentless hunt, bacically with the entire team at front of the peloton, Laurens De Vreese pulling very hard. The breakaway riders get caught one by one on the first and hardest hill climb.
Meanwhile some riders attempt to breakaway, but the pace was just to high. Jonathan Hivert (Direct Energie) Anthony Roux and Sébastien Reichenbach both FDJ. The extreme pace reduces the peloton to 31 rider over the top.
Over the last short hill Michael Valgren accelerate, at this point only 9 riders left in the first group, Romain Bardet (AG2R) fronting of the group behind Valgren.
Danish Michael Valgren Andersen was born in Østerild 1992, a small village in the north part of Jylland, his first professionel team was Glud & Marstrand at the time a danish team, (later ”Stölting Service Group” with Greman license), just 19 years old he won Liège–Bastogne–Liège U23, riding for the team
km 0.0
Michael Valgren never gets a lead of more than 10” over the final 5 km, but he does not care, because he is able to keep the slim lead long enough to cross the finish line first.
Michael Valgren wins the 18th edition of Classic de l'Ardèche, in front of Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Romain Bardet (AG2R), it was a very close finish between Valgren and Quintana this time the puncher came out on top.
This was Michael Valgren first season win, his best result to date was 2nd in Amstel Gold Race, Valgren is a perfect “spring season” riders type, good in hills and on cobbles, with a preference for the long distance race
Astana Pro Team
We did expect a top result, but that does not make this win less sweet, especially after discovering that the bookmakers and press clearly expected a climber rather than a puncher.
After The Time Trail scheduled for yesterday was canceled, the only decisive stage of the race, will be today’s final semi mountain stage with summit finish at Jebel Hafeet.
The stage starts at Qasr Al Muwaiji, a large fort in the center of Al Ain city. From there we a taking a square route, north–west–south–east through the dessert, and back to the city, taken up he first 150 km of the stage.
After which we are heading for Jebel Hafeet, a stunning isolated mountain formation that rises just south of the city. The climb is about 11 km, the central 7 km with avg. 8%.
Due to the Oasis in the area, settlements where Al Ain is today have existed for about 8000 years, with many Bronze and Iron Age Artefacts found in the area.
In more recent times the Dhawahir tribe originally controlled Al Ain. Though often in conflict with the Na'im tribe.
Top 5 media favorites:
Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R) Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) Rudy Molard (FDJ)
Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) Mikel Nieve (Michelton)
5000 years old Beehive Tombs close to Jebel Hafeet
Race
Km: 75
Jhonatan Narvaez (Quick-Step) opens the race on the streets of Al Ain, at the same second the race director opens the stage. Right behind him another three riders attempting to join his move, Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), Artem Nych (Gazprom) and Marco Canola (NIPPO).
The four riders unite but the peloton keep a brutal pace around 50 km/h and after a little more than 40 km it is over.
Won’t take long before others are forming a new breakaway, Jarlinson Pantano (Trek) Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step), Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue) and Sebastián Henao (Sky) sitting some 20-30 seconds in front of the peloton over the next 30 km, but they are also brought back by a persistent peloton.
We get a another breakaway David López García (Sky), Rubén Plaza (Israel) and Petr Vakoc (Quick-Step), this time the get a bit more line getting a gap of about 2 minutes.
Petr Vakoc wins the first intermediate sprint.
Petr Vakoc was born in 1992 Prague, Czechoslovakia. He came to Quick-Step in 2014 after a year on their development team, his best result was winning De Brabantse Pijl in 2016
Km: 12.5
The peloton constantly getting closer between the two point sprints. Danilo Wyss (BMC), Marc Sarreau (FDJ) and Juraj Sagan (BORA) lifting most of the workload.
The breakaway gets caught, perfectly timed for the sprinters able to fight for the 2nd intermediate sprint Sacha Modolo (Education First) take it in front of André Greipel Lotto Soudal) and Alexander Kristoff (UAE).
The riders start the climb, the pace is hard preventing attacks over the first 3.5 km
30 years old Italian Sacha Modolo was born in Conegliano, just south of the Italian Alps. He has 45 professional wins, his latest stage 2 in Tour de Pologne last season
Km:
A little more than 6 km left, we get the first attack it is Cameron Meyer (Michelton) with Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R) at wheel
Cameron Meyer acceleration was explosive and Vuillermoz just could not hang on, we was soon caught by the bunch.
Cameron Meyer very strong, with 3 km to the top he has 39”
30 years old Cameron Meyer was born in Viveash a suburb in Perth, Western Australia. Besides fine results on the road, Meyer also has outstanding results on the track, with many Track World Championships, in 2017 alone winning the Points race and Team pursuit
Km: 0
The peloton is getting closer and closer over the next 5 km, but never close enough, Cameron Meyer has plenty of time to celebrate before he crosses the finish line, not only winning the stage, but also taking the GC win in this edition of Abu Dhabi Tour and the KoM.
On the stage and also in the GC, Peter Kennaugh (BORA) 2nd Mikel Nieve (Michelton) 3rd, a brilliant result form Michelton – Scott.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) wins the point classification, Jack Haig again Michelton – Scott wins the Youth.
Cameron Meyer’s previous best result was the GC in Tour Down Under 7 years ago in 2011, this win will be at the same level
Astana Pro Team
With a stage podium from Magnus Cort, and 7th in GC by Sergey Chernetckii, can say we are on target, nothing really noteworthy but ok.
Latest Winners:
2017: Peter Sagan - 2016: Jasper Stuyven 2015: Mark Cavendish
Squad:
Michael Valgren - Oscar Gatto - Laurens De Vreese - Hugo Houle
Truls Engen Korsaeth - Andriy Grivko - Zhandos Bizhigitov
Expectations:
This classic race is sorta sprinter friendly if to many rider in the final group, so we are a little in doubt of what to expect, our ambition is a top 5 or better.
As you may expect from the race name it starts in Kuurne, and travels east towards Brussels, but since 1968 it never reaches Brussels, turning back west more than 30 km before it reaches the de facto capital of the European Union. It is the 2nd of the early Belgian spring classics, after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad which Astana did not enter this season.
The race was first held in 1945 almost immediately after the liberation of Belgium from German occupation. The race was first won the 23 years old Valère Ollivier from Roeselare, who also won Gent-Wevelgem a few years later.
Compared to most of the cobbled and/or hilly Belgian classics the race is relative sprinter friendly with a long flat road section leading up to the finish, making it much more likely to see teams getting organized for a mass sprint finish although with a reduced bunch.
The weather may of course play a vital role in an early northern race like this.
Top 5 media favorites:
Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step) Jasper Stuyven (Trek) Sep Vanmarcke (Education First) Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step) Michael Valgren (Astana)
The citizens of Kuurne are called “donkeys”. This name was given to them by the people of Kortrijk, a nearby city, because they used the animal to transport goods to Kortrijk market. The winner of the race receive a toy donkey, the symbol and mascot of Kuurne
Race
Km: 104
A long race await and the peloton start it out easy, but after some 20 km gone by we get the early acceleration, it is Marc Fournier (Vital Concept) quick to take wheel Kevin Van Melsen (Wanty) Jimmy Duquennoy (Aqua Protect) and Tyler Williams (Israel Cycling Academy).
Turns out that the very first attempt was allowed to go today after another 20 km they got 4 minutes. Then the peloton slowly reels back some of the distance, when we get to the hilly mid-section with about 110 km to go, it is down to 2’38.
Meanwhile some 25 riders have lost contact, but the peloton slows down a little now and they get back.
23 years old French Marc Fournier, started at FDJ as a trainee in 2015, but this season he will have to settle with the 2nd level at Vital Concept, his only important results have been a stage and the GC of Circuit de la Sarthe 2016
Km: 35
The breakaway start climbing Kanarieberg and Marc Fournier is now struggling to keep up with the pace.
Soon after also the peloton starts the climb and Oscar Gatto with a very early attack, we still got more than 100 km left.
Gatto joins the three riders left in the breakaway, Marc Fournier was reeled in.
We gets past the remaining climbs and cobbled sections without much drama, the distance slowly vanishing, but the peloton still more than 100 riders.
Then Tyler Williams attack from the breakaway, but he does not loose Van Melsen.
It is Tyler Williams 2nd season with Israel Cycling Academy, he haven’t got his first professional win yet. Tyler was born in Chandler, Arizona 1994
Km 9.5
It starts to rain rather hard. Oscar Gatto and Jimmy Duquennoy was reeled in.
With some 25 km left Education First and a few riders from other teams decides to end the suffering of the two riders left in the breakaway. Upping the pace to 50 km/hour and the breakaway was soon over.
That was the signal for the experts to set in their accelerations, first Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step), Jurgen Roelandts (BMC) and Luke Rowe (Sky) counters, but more gets on their wheel and it is neutralized.
Also Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step) with a hard acceleration but a group of Katusha riders close that down, the accelerations reduced the bunch to 41 riders.
32 years old Czech Zdenek Stybar’s most famous win was 2015 Strade Bianche, where he was able to outmaneuver Greg Van Avermaet and Alejandro Valverde
Km 0.0
Katusha continues to keep up a high pace, preventing other attacks and it is also Vyacheslav Kuznetsov leading for Baptiste Planckaert (Katusha) fronting the favourite group under the 5 km banner.
But Kuznetsov lead-out fades too early and it were Stybar and Terpstra delivering the decisive lead-out for young sprinter Alvaro José Hodeg (Quick-Step) winning the 70th edition of the Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne.
Wouter Wippert (Roompot) 2nd and Bernhard Eisel (Dimension Data) 3nd in a very close finish between the three.
All in all the leader board of this race was a huge surprise with few pre-race favourites.
Young Alvaro José Hodeg with a huge start for a new recruit, surely party in the Quick-Step camp tonight
Astana Pro Team
Michael Valgren’s 6th was a bit below expectations, but not too bad.
