PARIS — After a day of slow-motion cycling,
Mark Cavendish hit top speed in the final 400m on Monday to edge Jasper
Philipsen and win the second stage of the UAE Tour.
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“I knew we could win here,” said Cavendish.
On the second day of the first World Tour race of
the season, the peloton dawdled through a flat 173km stage that toured Abu
Dhabi, with the speed dipping to 20kmh.
At the end, the sprinters’ teams upped the pace.
Quick-Step rider Cavendish went early and held off
Belgian Philipsen, winner of Sunday’s opening stage.
“A third of the team are first-year professionals so
this is the first or second race in their career,” said Cavendish. “They were
super professional today,” he added.
“Their job was to get me to the final with me
feeling as fresh as possible and they did it so well that I was able to launch
with 300 to 350m to go into a headwind. I’m happy I could hold off Philipsen.”
German Pascal Ackermann, who rides for home team
UAE, was just behind in third.
Philipsen, who rides for Alpecin-Fenix, preserved
his four-second lead in the overall standings, with Russian Dimitry Strakhov of
Gazprom second. Cavendish climbed to third.
“I was missing just a few watts today,” said
Philipsen. “I was a bit far back at the end but I just had to go. I knew it was
going to be a tough sprint because of the headwind and Mark was the fastest
today.”
Strakhov did cut Philipsen’s lead in the points
classification after spending a warm, windy day focusing on intermediate
sprints.
Tuesday’s stage is a 9km time trial around the
village of Ajman which should give Team UAE star
Tadej Pogacar a chance to
shine.
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