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Viviani victorious in crash-marred sprint on Dubai Tour Stage 2

February 4, 2016
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Thursday was a fine day for the Italians, Sky and most of all Elia Viviani, as he won the sprint finish of the second stage of the Dubai Tour after a crash in the last kilometre near Palm Jumeirah that held up the two main protagonists of Wednesday’s bunch sprint, Mark Cavendish and Marcel Kittel.

One can see how reduced the bunch was by this screen grab.

The top four on the stage were all Italian fastmen. Sky enjoyed another triumph the same day at the Herald Sun Tour in Australia via Brit Peter Kennaugh. On Wednesday Sky’s Dutchman Wout Poels was top man in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana’s opening time trial.

The win will take the sting out of Viviani getting beat by his own Italian squad teammate Jakub Mareczko in the final stage of the Tour de San Luis in late January. Viviani was so incensed that he didn’t attend the podium ceremony.

The day’s breakaway included Polish rider Marcin Bialoblocki of One Pro Cycling and one-time Grand Tour GC threat Francesco Mancebo (Spain/Skydive Dubai). Out of the quartet, Bialoblocki took the intermediate sprints along the pancake flat 183-km while Mancebo was the last to submit to the peloton with 10-km to go.

At the mouth of a tunnel in the final kilometre a Trek rider went down after a touch of wheels, triggering the wreck. Cavendish managed to sneak into 10th place on the day, but race leader Kittel staggered in 22nd, losing the blue leader’s jersey to the Italian. Giacomo Nizzolo was third for the second day running and holds third spot on GC.

The 3rd Dubai Tour continues Friday with a finish on a slight rise to Hatta Dam.


2016 Dubai Tour Stage 2
1) Elia Viviani (Italy/Sky) 4:07:39
2) Sacha Modolo (Italy/Lampre) s.t.
3) Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy/Trek) s.t.

2016 Dubai Tour GC
1) Elia Viviani (Italy/Sky) 7:42:50
2) Marcel Kittel (Germany/Etixx-QuickStep) s.t.
3) Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy/Trek) +0:02