Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won a wind-shortened opening stage of the UAE Tour, attacking on the uphill drag to Liwa Palace to take the leader's red jersey and 10 bonus seconds over pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). Organisers cut the route from 144 to 118 km mid-race, citing safety concerns over high winds and blowing sand on the exposed Tel Moreeb cycle track.
The 5.9% gradient over the final 700 m created time gaps between GC riders. A crash at a roundabout with 1.5 km remaining took down Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), a sprint favourite after back-to-back wins at the AlUla Tour. Milan finished the stage but was visibly in pain.
With the lead-out trains disrupted, Groupama-FDJ and INEOS Grenadiers pushed to the front. When Axel Huens (Groupama-FDJ) opened a gap, del Toro launched his sprint. He built several bike lengths on the steepest section before Cees Bol (Decathlon CMA CGM) closed hard in the final 30 m, falling a wheel short.
"It was kind of the plan to try and win stage 1, so we had to stay together as a team and we’re happy as a team that we did it," del Toro said. "Honestly I’ve worked on my time trialing but not as much as I need. It’s the dream to still lead the UAE Tour after the time trial."
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) took third, leaving him 6 s back in the overall standings, collecting 4 bonus seconds of his own. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) finished eighth at 9 s. Evenepoel finished in the main group and did not contest the uphill sprint.
Image credit: RCS/ Luca Bettini / SprintCyclingAgency
What it means for the GC
Del Toro will start tomorrow's 12.2 km individual time trial on Al Hudayriat Island with a 10 s lead over Evenepoel on account of time bonuses. He now needs to recover that deficit before gaining any buffer of his own. At the intermediate sprints, Ben Tulett (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Van Eetvelt both picked up bonus seconds.
With two summit finishes still to come on Jebel Mobrah and Jebel Hafeet, the overall standings can still change. The stage was expected to suit sprinters, but del Toro took the win for his home team.
Cover image credit: RCS/ Luca Bettini / SprintCyclingAgency
