Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) was the winner of stage one of the UAE Tour on Monday, the Belgian outsprinting Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny), Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) plus the rest of a dozen-strong breakaway into the finish in Al Mirfa.
The result came down to a photo finish, with Merlier getting the edge over Ewan by the smallest of margins. Ireland’s Sam Bennett led in the main bunch 51 seconds back, placing 13th.
Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) had targeted the stage win and indeed he and team-mate Danny van Poppel were part of a 25-man breakaway group which was clear heading into the second half of the 151 kilometre stage. However this move was ultimately hauled back.
Merlier, Ewan and 11 others then pushed ahead inside the final 40 minutes of racing, using crosswinds to gap the peloton. Driven on by world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and others, this group gained time over a chasing bunch which wouldn’t knuckle down to the chase.
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Bennett’s Bora-hansgrohe team was among those not prepared to fully commit, meaning that the gap ballooned out to more than a minute before decreasingly slightly by the finish.
“Danny [van Poppel] and I fought hard to get into the first group,” Bennett said. “It was a tough day and with 25km to go we just weren’t in the right position to make the jump into the lead group amidst the winds and the chaos in the group, which was quite disappointing. Now we have to wait a few days until we have another chance in the sprints.”
Sports director Bernhard Eisel said that he and others had hoped for more.
“We really can’t be satisfied with the result. Sam and Danny were in the first group and we knew that there would be some wind in the corner, but we missed the move and we are extremely disappointed,” he said. “We hope that things will go better in the next few days.”
The race continues with a team time-trial on Tuesday and features mountain legs on Wednesday and Sunday, but does offer further opportunities for sprinters on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Bennett will hope to feature on one or more of those three stages, and to add to the early-second season win he took a month ago on stage one of the Vuelta a San Juan Internacional in Argentina.
