Phinney retains race lead on day two of new race
Taking what is his second victory of the year after his earlier success in the People’s Choice Classic, Marcel Kittel (Giant Shimano) scored a psychological point against his sprinting rivals when he powered in first at the end of today’s stage of the Dubai Tour.
The tall German and his team got things perfectly right in the tussle at the end of the stage, with Kittel blasting home ahead of double Tour de France Maillot Vert Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) and the impressive Taylor Phinney.
The BMC Racing Team rider started today as the race leader thanks to his prologue success and, mindful of the bonuses available, made sure he limited the gains of Kittel and Sagan in the gallop to the line.
Another rider who was on the radar of many, Mark Cavendish, found himself too far back with two hundred meters to go after his team’s build-up didn’t go to plan. The Omega Pharma Quick Step rider opted not to sprint, reasoning afterwards that the best he could have hoped for was a place in the top ten.
“This is great,” beamed Kittel, enjoying the success. “I am very happy and very proud that we worked for the win today.
“It’s very important to test the lead out train to see how well it goes. We’ve got very good guys, and today it all worked out good so that makes me happy too.”
Early on former Tour de France rider Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai) combined with Willie Smit (Vini Fantini-Nippo) and Diogo Nunes (Banco BIC-Carmim) to open up a four minute gap.
However Phinney’s BMC Racing team rode to control the gap and inside the final thirty kilometres, the trio out front had just over a minute.
It was clear that their effort would be in vain and when the sprinters’ teams hit the front, the lead tumbled. Mancebo attacked in a futile attempt to hold off the peloton but was reeled in a little under fifteen kilometres to go.
The riders reached a tunnel with seven kilometres to go and Kittel said afterwards that this was a crucial point of the race.
“We planned to be in front out of the tunnel, because we knew the wind would be there. It was a bit calculated that we wouldn’t have enough riders in the end, so they brought me to the final five hundred metres and I got on the wheel of Taylor Phinney. He started his sprint early, I waited there… and I’m happy I’ve won today.”
Phinney’s strong finishing effort earned him a one second bonus over all of his rivals bar Kittel and Sagan.
“Our goal today was to stay safe. We controlled the whole day – the team rode really, really well as a unit,” he said. “Rick Zabel and Sebastian Lander rode the whole day on the front and controlled everything. We had Yannick Eijssen, Steve Cummings and Klaas Lodewyck looking after me in the final.
“I got to 500 metres to go and some guys were pulling off. With a tail crosswind like that, you can gain a lot of speed from behind. I just started to pass everybody and did my own sprint. I started really early – maybe three hundred meters out – but unfortunately started to die a bit with 75 meters to go.”
He ends the day fifteen seconds clear of team-mate Steve Cummings and seventeen up on Lasse Norman Hansen (Garmin Sharp). Tony Martin (Omega Pharma Quick Step) is at 23 seconds, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) at 26, and Sagan at thirty.
Phinney knows that his display today was important as it showed his rivals that he will fight tooth and nail to hold onto the leader’s jersey. However it also fits into another longer-term goal. “For me, I am trying to get a bit more into sprinting. A lot of it is tactics, a lot of it is position,” he said.
“I am happy with third, I am really happy to keep the jersey going into tomorrow.”
Kittel’s goal is to continue winning stages, and he hopes to do the same on Friday’s 162 kilometre race from Dubai to Hatta. “Crossing the finish line first is a very nice feeling, of course, and for me as a sprinter it’s important to get the win, but I like to celebrate it as a team win in the end,” he said. “Everyone works for one goal, and in the end I’m the lucky guy who gets to finish it off.
“It’s always a big relief when we finish first. I can also understand the anger of the riders who finish second. I would be angry too if I wasn’t first.”
Cavendish sought to play down the significance of today’s result, pointing out that his Omega Pharma Quick Step team lost control of the bunch and he was consequently badly positioned. The sprint was, effectively, lost before it ever began.
Kittel knows that there is a random element to sprinting and the result one day does not necessary rule out something completely different happening the next.
As a result, he knows he needs to win again before he or anyone else can say he’s faster than Cavendish, as he clearly was last July.
“I’m trying to go my own way, to follow the goals that I personally have, together with the team. Then we have to see who we have to beat to achieve those goals,” he explained. “Here it’s Cavendish, and I can’t deny that this race is important because it is an opportunity to sprint against him.
“At 1.5 kilometres to go we moved up next to his team and Cavendish was still there. I didn’t see what happened – I don’t have eyes in the back of my head – but personally for me it’s much more satisfying if you can beat a sprinter next to each other, when you fight it out and you can see them.
“It makes it more interesting for the spectators. It’s fighting for the win that gives you a lot of excitement, and I like that.”
Cavendish will do his utmost to ensure that he is indeed beside – or even ahead – as the sprint opens up tomorrow.
Tour of Dubai (2.1)
Stage 2, Dubai to Palm Jumeirah:
1, Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Shimano) 122 kilometres in 2 hours 50 mins 30 secs
2, Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
3, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team)
4, Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Movistar Team)
5, Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing)
6, Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida)
7, Nikolay Trusov (Tinkoff-Saxo)
8, Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
9, Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana Pro Team)
10, Raymond Kreder (Garmin Sharp)
11, Lasse Norman Hansen (Garmin Sharp)
12, Tyler Farrar (Garmin Sharp)
13, Adriano Malori (Movistar Team)
14, Antonio Viola (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
15, Takashi Miyazawa (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
16, Dylan Van Baarle (Garmin Sharp)
17, Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team)
18, Pier Paolo De Negri (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
19, Danilo Hondo (Trek Factory Racing)
20, Soufiane Haddi (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
21, Riccardo Stacchiotti (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
22, Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team)
23, Michael Valgren Andersen (Tinkoff-Saxo)
24, Yousif Mirza (United Arab Emirates)
25, Alessandro Malaguti (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
26, Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo)
27, Alexandr Porsev (Team Katusha)
28, Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team)
29, Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team)
30, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team)
31, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Giant-Shimano)
32, Sergei Chernetski (Team Katusha)
33, Damiano Caruso (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
34, Andrea Guardini (Astana Pro Team)
35, Enrique Sanz Unzue (Movistar Team)
36, Rory Sutherland (Tinkoff-Saxo)
37, Peter Velits (BMC Racing Team)
38, Sebastian Langeveld (Garmin Sharp)
39, Steven Cummings (BMC Racing Team)
40, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team)
41, Simon Buttner (RTS-Santic Racing Team)
42, Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin Sharp)
43, Eugenio Alafaci (Trek Factory Racing)
44, Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida)
45, Martin Velits (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team)
46, Marco Marcato (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
47, Matteo Tosatto (Tinkoff-Saxo)
48, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team)
49, Pavel Brutt (Team Katusha)
50, Oliver Zaugg (Tinkoff-Saxo)
51, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team)
52, Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Lampre-Merida)
53, Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida)
54, Manuel Antunes Amaro (Banco BIC Carmim)
55, Tan Peng Yuan (RTS-Santic Racing Team)
56, Janez Brajkovic (Astana Pro Team)
57, Johan Van Summeren (Garmin Sharp)
58, Fabio Silvestre (Trek Factory Racing)
59, Luca Paolini (Team Katusha)
60, Yannick Eijssen (BMC Racing Team)
61, Maciej Bodnar (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
62, Bruno De Matos Sancho (Banco BIC Carmim)
63, Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Movistar Team)
64, Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Trek Factory Racing)
65, Rafaa Chtioui (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
66, Daniele Ratto (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
67, Vladimir Gusev (Team Katusha)
68, Alexandr Pliuschin (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
69, Edward King (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
70, Evan Huffman (Astana Pro Team)
71, Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Movistar Team)
72, Juraj Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
73, Bruno Manuel Sil Pires (Tinkoff-Saxo)
74, Kristof Vandewalle (Trek Factory Racing)
75, Kim Magnusson (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
76, Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar Team)
77, Joao Pereira (Banco BIC Carmim)
78, Adil Jelloul (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
79, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing)
80, Angel Vicioso Arcos (Team Katusha)
81, Alessandro Vanotti (Astana Pro Team)
82, Rafael Ferreira Reis (Banco BIC Carmim)
83, Niccolò Bonifazio (Lampre-Merida)
84, Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing)
85, Alex Dowsett (Movistar Team)
86, Manabu Ishibashi (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
87, Lawson Craddock (Team Giant-Shimano)
88, Luca Dodi (Lampre-Merida)
89, Fabio Sabatini (Cannondale Pro Cycling)
90, Sun Jae Jang (RTS-Santic Racing Team)
91, Rick Zabel (BMC Racing Team)
92, Koen De Kort (Team Giant-Shimano)
93, Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
94, Alberto Losada Alguacil (Team Katusha)
95, Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 13 secs
96, Alessandro Petacchi (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 14 secs
97, Andrea Palini (Lampre-Merida) at 16 secs
98, Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida) at 18 secs
99, Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 22 secs
100, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Sharp) at mins 23 secs
101, Henrique Madeira Casimiro (Banco BIC Carmim)
102, Daniel Mestre (Banco BIC Carmim)
103, Wouter Poels (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 25 secs
104, Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Team Katusha)
105, Tom Veelers (Team Giant-Shimano) at 27 secs
106, Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) at 34 secs
107, Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 38 secs
108, Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Giant-Shimano) at 55 secs
109, Sebastian Lander (BMC Racing Team)
110, Bert De Backer (Team Giant-Shimano)
111, Majid Albalooshi (United Arab Emirates) at 1 min 3 secs
112, Ahmed Almansoori (United Arab Emirates) at 1 min 11 secs
113, Mohammed Albalooshi (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
114, Alex Coutts (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 1 min 19 secs
115, Willem Jakobus Smit (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 1 min 27 secs
116, Cheng Ji (Team Giant-Shimano) at 4 mins 7 secs
117, Ruslan Karimov (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 4 mins 43 secs
118, Keon-Woo Park (RTS-Santic Racing Team)
119, Mansour Thani (United Arab Emirates)
120, Nawaf Albalooshi (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
121, Wen Chung Huang (RTS-Santic Racing Team)
122, Valter Pereira (Banco BIC Carmim)
123, Mohammed Almansoury (United Arab Emirates)
124, Khaled Altani (United Arab Emirates) at 5 mins 46 secs
125, Ahmad Albalooshi (United Arab Emirates) at 5 mins 57 secs
126, Diogo Nunes (Banco BIC Carmim) at 8 mins 15 secs
127, Boris Shpilevsky (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 12 mins 48 secs
Overall standings:
1, Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team) 3 hours 2 mins 32 secs
2, Steven Cummings (BMC Racing Team) at 15 secs
3, Lasse Norman Hansen (Garmin Sharp) at 17 secs
4, Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 23 secs
5, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) at 26 secs
6, Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 30 secs
7, Adriano Malori (Movistar Team) at 33 secs
8, Maciej Bodnar (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 36 secs
9, Alexandr Porsev (Team Katusha)
10, Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Shimano)
11, Peter Velits (BMC Racing Team) at 38 secs
12, Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) at 41 secs
13, Dylan Van Baarle (Garmin Sharp) at 42 secs
14, Rory Sutherland (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 43 secs
15, Sergei Chernetski (Team Katusha) at 44 secs
16, Yannick Eijssen (BMC Racing Team)
17, Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar Team) at 45 secs
18, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Pro Team)
19, Martin Velits (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team)
20, Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin Sharp)
21, Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) at 46 secs
22, Matteo Tosatto (Tinkoff-Saxo)
23, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Giant-Shimano) at 47 secs
24, Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Lampre-Merida) at 48 secs
25, Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Trek Factory Racing) at 50 secs
26, Lawson Craddock (Team Giant-Shimano)
27, Angel Vicioso Arcos (Team Katusha) at 51 secs
28, Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Movistar Team)
29, Jesus Herrada Lopez (Movistar Team) at 53 secs
30, Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo)
31, Sebastian Langeveld (Garmin Sharp)
32, Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) at 54 secs
33, Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Movistar Team)
34, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 55 secs
35, Fabio Silvestre (Trek Factory Racing)
36, Nikolay Trusov (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 57 secs
37, Pavel Brutt (Team Katusha) at 58 secs
38, Michael Valgren Andersen (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 1 min 0 secs
39, Rick Zabel (BMC Racing Team) at 1 min 2 secs
40, Danilo Hondo (Trek Factory Racing) at 1 min 3 secs
41, Vladimir Gusev (Team Katusha)
42, Janez Brajkovic (Astana Pro Team) at 1 min 4 secs
43, Evan Huffman (Astana Pro Team)
44, Alexandr Pliuschin (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 5 secs
45, Alex Dowsett (Movistar Team)
46, Kristof Vandewalle (Trek Factory Racing)
47, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) at 1 min 6 secs
48, Damiano Caruso (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 1 min 8 secs
49, Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team)
50, Alessandro Petacchi (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 1 min 9 secs
51, Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing)
52, Marco Marcato (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 1 min 11 secs
53, Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana Pro Team)
54, Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
55, Luca Paolini (Team Katusha)
56, Johan Van Summeren (Garmin Sharp) at 1 min 12 secs
57, Alessandro Vanotti (Astana Pro Team) at 1 min 13 secs
58, Koen De Kort (Team Giant-Shimano)
59, Mark Renshaw (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 1 min 14 secs
60, Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team)
61, Alberto Losada Alguacil (Team Katusha) at 1 min 15 secs
62, Wouter Poels (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 1 min 17 secs
63, Eugenio Alafaci (Trek Factory Racing)
64, Luca Dodi (Lampre-Merida) at 1 min 19 secs
65, Tyler Farrar (Garmin Sharp) at 1 min 21 secs
66, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Sharp)
67, Rafael Ferreira Reis (Banco BIC Carmim)
68, Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida) at 1 min 23 secs
69, Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team)
70, Oliver Zaugg (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 1 min 24 secs
71, Edward King (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 1 min 27 secs
72, Rafaa Chtioui (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
73, Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team) at 1 min 29 secs
74, Alessandro Malaguti (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 1 min 31 secs
75, Niccolò Bonifazio (Lampre-Merida)
76, Daniele Ratto (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 1 min 34 secs
77, Bruno Manuel Sil Pires (Tinkoff-Saxo)
78, Pier Paolo De Negri (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 1 min 37 secs
79, Kim Magnusson (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 1 min 38 secs
80, Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) at 1 min 40 secs
81, Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 41 secs
82, Riccardo Stacchiotti (Vini-Fantini-Nippo)
83, Yousif Mirza (United Arab Emirates) at 1 min 43 secs
84, Fabio Sabatini (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 1 min 45 secs
85, Soufiane Haddi (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 46 secs
86, Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Giant-Shimano) at 1 min 47 secs
87, Sun Jae Jang (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 1 min 48 secs
88, Adil Jelloul (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team)
89, Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) at 1 min 49 secs
90, Andrea Guardini (Astana Pro Team) at 1 min 50 secs
91, Andrea Palini (Lampre-Merida)
92, Antonio Viola (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 1 min 52 secs
93, Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Movistar Team) at 1 min 55 secs
94, Tom Veelers (Team Giant-Shimano) at 1 min 56 secs
95, Enrique Sanz Unzue (Movistar Team) at 1 min 59 secs
96, Juraj Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) at 2 mins 2 secs
97, Manabu Ishibashi (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 2 mins 3 secs
98, Manuel Antunes Amaro (Banco BIC Carmim)
99, Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Team Katusha)
100, Daniel Mestre (Banco BIC Carmim) at 2 mins 4 secs
101, Raymond Kreder (Garmin Sharp) at 2 mins 6 secs
102, Tan Peng Yuan (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 2 mins 7 secs
103, Joao Pereira (Banco BIC Carmim) at 2 mins 18 secs
104, Takashi Miyazawa (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 2 mins 20 secs
105, Bruno De Matos Sancho (Banco BIC Carmim) at 2 mins 23 secs
106, Bert De Backer (Team Giant-Shimano) at 2 mins 24 secs
107, Simon Buttner (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 2 mins 30 secs
108, Henrique Madeira Casimiro (Banco BIC Carmim) at 2 mins 35 secs
109, Sebastian Lander (BMC Racing Team) at 2 mins 38 secs
110, Mohammed Albalooshi (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team) at 2 mins 43 secs
111, Valentin Iglinskiy (Astana Pro Team) at 2 mins 46 secs
112, Willem Jakobus Smit (Vini-Fantini-Nippo) at 2 mins 58 secs
113, Majid Albalooshi (United Arab Emirates) at 3 mins 22 secs
114, Ahmed Almansoori (United Arab Emirates) at 3 mins 30 secs
115, Alex Coutts (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 3 mins 35 secs
116, Cheng Ji (Team Giant-Shimano) at 5 mins 41 secs
117, Keon-Woo Park (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 6 mins 43 secs
118, Mansour Thani (United Arab Emirates) at 6 mins 51 secs
119, Mohammed Almansoury (United Arab Emirates) at 6 mins 54 secs
120, Nawaf Albalooshi (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team) at 6 mins 57 secs
121, Valter Pereira (Banco BIC Carmim) at 7 mins 27 secs
122, Ruslan Karimov (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 7 mins 31 secs
123, Wen Chung Huang (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 7 mins 38 secs
124, Khaled Altani (United Arab Emirates) at 8 mins 6 secs
125, Ahmad Albalooshi (United Arab Emirates) at 9 mins 16 secs
126, Diogo Nunes (Banco BIC Carmim) at 9 mins 49 secs
127, Boris Shpilevsky (RTS-Santic Racing Team) at 15 mins 26 secs