Marcel Kittel was bumped out of the leader’s jersey after being caught behind a crash in the last kilometre of stage 2 at the Dubai Tour. He slid to second place in the overall but holds the same time as new leader Elia Viviani (Team Sky), and warned that his team Etixx-QuickStep wouldn’t give up trying to win the title in the coming days.
“We will all fight it [the overall title],” Kittel said after the finish of the stage in Palm Jameirah. “I don’t think it’s unrealistic to at least stay in the same time but we will see, we definitely have some good cards to play tomorrow.”
The third stage of the Dubai Tour is the most decisive, 172km and finishing on the short, steep slope of Hatta Dam. The tour will end in Dubai for a 137km flat race that is expected to be a sprint finish.
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Kittel won the opening stage of the Dubai Tour in Fujairah on Wednesday, beating Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), and securing a 10-second time bonus. They were placed first and second, respectively, in the overall following that stage but both riders wound up caught behind a crash ahead of the final sprint on Thursday.
Viviani won the stage, and the 10-second bonus, and moved into the overall lead but with no time gains on Kittel.
If Kittel felt threatened after losing the overall lead he certainly didn’t show it, stating calmly that the important thing is that he still has the same time as Viviani.
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