Huge construction sites can be seen along the roadside of every stage of the Dubai Tour and the two sprint finishes contested so far have confirmed that there is similar amount of work in progress in amongst the sprinters and their lead-out trains.
Seven of the world's best sprinters are here to fight for early-season glory but, more importantly, they are here to practice, adjust and polish their lead-out strategy in the sun before bigger sprint goals in Europe, where the stakes and pressure to win will be higher.
Sprints are rarely perfect, even for the winner. There is always a reason for defeat: on stage 2, Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) had a gear problem with 1.5km to go, lost his lead-out train and was late in making it to the front: too late to get past Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors).
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Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) lost his lead-out man but used his experience to get on Viviani's wheel and tried to out-jump him. Viviani is on superb form at the moment and so was able to kick again in sight of the line and hold off Cavendish, with Groenewegen and Riccardo Minali (Astana) coming up late to take second and third.
Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) is perhaps punching above his weight in this Dubai Tour but was not afraid to start his aero-tucked sprint early. He could see the finish line but faded, was passed and finished 15th. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) looked well-placed in the final kilometre, but was left out in front too early and also faded to 7th.
They were perhaps the lucky ones: at least they were able to contest the sprint. Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) could not get through to open his sprint, while Kittel again finished in 17th place. Not exactly what he and Katusha-Alpecin had hoped for on their season debut together.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/chaos-reigns-in-dubai-tour-as-sprint-trains-remain-a-work-in-progress
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