First stage of Tour d'Algiere is fairly gentle one to begin the Tour. Mostly flat with a 10km Category 1 climb in the middle of the stage where the first mountain jersey will be decided. However even the climb shouldn't prove too much for the sprinters and we expect the first mass sprint of the season in the Continental division to take place.
It's hard to judge the favourites in the first stage, but it's fair to say that Hans Dekkers, Emanuele Rizza, Cherif Abdallah, Oleksandr Polivoda & Geoffrey Soupe will all be in contention for the win. We also might see a surprise package as well. Lots to look forward to!
Teams are ready and we’re are set to go. The first stage race of the continental division is about to begin!
Almost instantly we have 4 riders attack and create a gap. It’s the break of the day that includes:
Daniel Hoelgaard (Team Privatbank)
Bram Tankink (Team WWE)
Faycal Hamza (Jaguar – Eritel)
Amaro Antunes (Adira-Isq Project)
Daniel Hoelgaard wins the first intermediate sprint, meanwhile Faycal Hamza manages to snatch on the the second sprint on the stage.
The break begins to climb the 1st category climb in very misty condtions, on the way Daniel Hoelgaard won the 3rd category climb ahead of Antunes & Hamza. All three along Tankink will look to battle for this one as well, the winner will wear the first king of mountain jersey this season tomorrow.
The peleton is pretty relaxed with variety of teams taking turns to keep the gap down. Allianz-BMW, Die Berg Komt Er, Kappa-ENI & Iberia – Communidad are ever so present at the front looking to set it up for their sprinters respectively.
Bram Tankink surprising early attack helps him to the win King of the Mountain point and with it take the jersey for at least one day. However Antunes earlier points put him as joint leader in the classification. The other 2 will be disappointed as it seems this will be the only prize for today’s break as the gap is closing ever so more. With 40km to go, it’s at 3’07”.
At the 12km mark the break is in sight and inevitable catch will soon take place. We see 3 sprinter teams trying to assemble at the front MTN looks most organized at the front for Abdallah. We can also see Allianz-BMW & Die Berg Komt Er trying to assemble a sprint train of their own for Dekkers & Rizza respectively.
5km to go and MTN looks in total control. All perfectly set up for Abdallah. However there’s top sprinters fighting out to hold his wheel. Dekkers, Polivoda, Schinker & Rizza are all there. MTN train at the moment looks as follows : MTN (Fouche, Uwimama, Ben Youcef & Abadallah)
2.5km to go and the sprint begins! On the left we see Carrara leading out Dekkers, who's followed by Duque and Rizza (Die Berg) and in the middle MTN 3 man strong train lead by Uwimana. Whose train will prove to be the strongest ?
1.3 km to go and Duque goes alone! Dekkers follows his wheel waiting for the right moment to go. Rizza due to communication issues with Duque looses bit of ground and is trying to follow Nich Schinker (Kenya Airways). Abdallah is still waiting behind Ben Youcef's wheel, meanwhile no other than Dani Moreno sits on his wheel. Could he take surprise result himself today ?
At 700 metres to the line Abbdallah decided to release his sprint and he's keeping strong at the front however Schinker and Dani Moreno are trying to overtake him.
300 metres to go and it’s all even! Schinker is in the minimal lead however Dekkers & Abdallah are all in it. Polivoda is coming back with the highest speed, but is slightly behind.
Polivoda’s amazing acceleration puts him in contention as he looks to got the minimal gap he needs to win! Behind Abdallah’s wheel, Dani Moreno produces acceleration that puts him in a win contention Can he make it with just metres to go ?
And Polivoda snatches the win with absolutely minimal gap over Moreno in 2nd. Abdallah rounds off the podium places, sightly disappointing result considering their control of the final today. Moreno produces surprise result of the day. Those bonus seconds can prove essential later on in the fight for GC.
Polivoda knows he won and raises his arms up. Great win for the Ukrainian and his team!
Daniel Hoelgaard (Team Privatbank)
Bram Tankink (Team WWE)
Faycal Hamza (Jaguar – Eritel)
Amaro Antunes (Adira-Isq Project)
MTN (Fouche, Uwimama, Ben Youcef & Abadallah)
Oleksandr Polivoda
Daniel Moreno
Cherif Abdallah
Geoffrey Soupe
Nico Schinker
Emanuele Rizza
Soufiane Haddi
Guillaume Boivin
Mahdi Sohrabi
