Featured image courtesy of LaPresse/Fabio Ferrari
The first World Tour race is over, seven stages of the UAE Tour 2021 at an end. Tadej Pogačar goes away with the overall general classification with Britain’s Adam Yates taking second and Quick Step’s João Almeida finishing third.
Seven stages, one week of racing – here are my talking points.
1 Too early to judge early form
Riding for the ‘home team’ UAE-Team Emirates, the pressure was always going to be on the shoulders of sprinter Fernando Gaviria and the current Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar. Perhaps more expection on Pogačar but to fair he has delivered GC success alongside a stage win.
Atop Jebel Hafeet, Stage 3 was the hardest of the week and the key moment. Pogačar just about had the legs to stay with the relentless attacks from Adam Yates, who himself has had a decent week despite an unfortunate fall on the final stage.
Everything was thrown at Pogačar, Yates tried to shake the Slovenian off his wheel but in the end couldn’t crack him. A challenge overcome for Pogačar and to be honest the GC competition was over after three stages, Yates and Pogačar untouchable.
Other GC contenders did ride with courage. After his heroic stint in the pink jersey at last year’s Giro d’Italia, João Almeida deserves credit for giving his all, Australian Chris Harper did well to finish fourth overall and more talent is emerging in the form of 20-year-old Mattias Jensen, the Dane riding for Trek-Segafredo finishing sixth overall.
While Tadej Pogačar takes the winners jersey and Adam Yates settles for second, the current Tour de France champion can now take a breather until more European stage races come calling. For Yates, it still remains to be seen as to what role he plays for Ineos Grenadiers this season and which of the Grand Tours he goes to.
2 A terrific stage win for Jonas Vingegaard
Mattias Jensen producing a stunning GC placing wasn’t the only young Danish rider who shone bright this week.
Jonas Vingegaard. 24-years-of-age, riding for Jumbo-Visma, produced a brilliant attack to catch the final rider from stage breakway to win atop Jebel Jais, the second mountain of this year’s race.
Not Vingegaard’s first individual triumph as he did take Stage 4 at the 2019 Tour of Poland, but fans will remember the Dane for his super domestique work supporting last year’s double Vuelta champion Primož Roglič.
New talent just continues to emerge and Jonas Vingegaard has a huge future. A domestique for the moment it seems but given an opportunity in the UAE, took it with a firm grasp, and hopefully more excitement to come from the Jumbo-Visma man.
3 Sam Bennett 2-1 Caleb Ewan
Four flat stages were on offer, one finished with some sprinters caught out by echelons but three ended in bunch sprints – the final result seeing Sam Bennett winning two for Quick-Step and Australia’s Caleb Ewan taking the final stage in Abu Dhabi.
Green jersey, multiple stage wins at the Grand Tours and much more to come in 2021, Sam Bennett for both of his two stage wins won comfortably. The Deceuninck-Quick Step lead-out well worked and organised with Michael Mørkøv so important as the final man to deliver Bennett to the line, the Dane even finished inside the top ten on Stage 6.
For Caleb Ewan he will take massive confidence in taking the final stage ahead of what should be another successful year for Lotto Soudal. At the moment it really is hard to separate both Bennett and Ewan, definitely the two best sprinters in the pro peloton right now.
Elsewhere, it was pleasing to see Elia Viviani finish close to taking a stage win. Not quite close enough but after having heart surgery just recently it is quite something to perform at the level he did this week. Viviani can hold his head high as should young Dutchman David Dekker coming second in a select group on Stage 1 and second again in the first of the three bunch sprints. Riding for Jumbo-Visma, if Dekker had a better lead out he might’ve won a stage, but to contest a sprint alongside the heads of state in sprinting and coming close must be praised.
Who goes home disappointed? Fernando Gaviria, with all the expectation pinned on his UAE team, won’t be happy and in truth he hasn’t looked great since this time last year. Maybe too harsh on the Colombian but in a sprint finish against other top riders, you’re unlikely to label Gaviria as favourite right now.
German sprinter Pascal Ackermann has still got a way to go, but there is still time with many more sprints to come in the stage races ahead in Europe.
4 From glory to goodbye for Mathieu van der Poel
The first stage was marred by wind, echelons and havoc. Splits in the peloton, sprinters affected and a select group contesting the opening win and the first leader’s jersey. For Mathieu van der Poel, every race he rides right now always turns into a golden moment. Out-sprinting David Dekker and Elia Viviani to take the first stage, the race lead, before having to leave the race because of this dreadful virus.
A staff member at Alpecin-Fenix testing positive for Covid-19, the team dropping out for health and safety was of course the right call, but what a rotten bit of luck for Mathieu van der Poel. We never got to see what the current cyclo-cross world champion could’ve done throughout the week. A shame but at the same point it was fortunate to see Covid-19 only take one team out of the race. Thankfully, the race wasn’t dominated by the virus and for that we’ve been thankful.
5 The Filippo Ganna machine
Where to start with this man! Once again, another phenomenal performance by a rider who is an absolute machine in time trials. Filippo Ganna wears the rainbows with pride as world time trialling champion and it’s hardly surprising considering his brilliant record in track cycling. A 14 second margin to beat Stefan Bissegger on Stage 2’s time trial, lack of competition in TT specialists probably swung it in Ganna’s favour but he was always pinned on to dominate the stage.
The Italian cannot just be known as a supreme time trialling beast though. He’s already shown dominance on a road bike, a rider who can climb, help out teammates and turn a big gear. A thrilling talent on the road, Filippo Ganna is bound to secure more significant wins this season. Get ready for May when the Giro begins with a time trial in Turin. For sure, if all things go well, Filippo Ganna will be favourite to wear pink at his home Grand Tour once again.
6 Chris Froome showing some progress
With Chris Froome making his Israel Start-Up Nation debut, eyes were always going to be on him as a four-times Tour de France winner. He continues his recovery after an almost career-ending crash in 2019, aiming to ride for a fifth Tour de France title. At this moment in time, it is really hard to see how Froome can even make top ten on a stage left alone the general classification. Stage 3 to Jebel Hafeet was probably more of a struggle but on Stage 5, Froome just actually to manage to hang on longer than I expected.
He was never going to contest the overall title this week, with support going to Belgian teammate Ben Hermans but giving acknowledgement to the TV camera as he was dropped on both mountain stages and his result in the time-trial was un-Froome like. It isn’t the image we’ve been accustomed to seeing from Chris Froome over the years. We do expect better but this is a rider who’s coming back from a horrific injury and the criticism he faces can sometimes be cruel. There should be no pressure on Chris Froome’s shoulders and I particularly admired his commitment on the flat stages in support of sprinter André Greipel.
A long way to go for Chris Froome but small steps are better than giving up.
7 Cycling needs to take a stand
Opinions in sport are part of the conversation starters we need to have polite and sometimes uncomfortable discussions. My opinion is my opinion, it can be right or wrong and maybe sometimes strong or weak. Opinions are cheap as chips. From my point of view watching the UAE Tour has been both a delight but with something else in my mind too. I have no problem with the riders themselves taking part in the race, they are the teams and the staff that provide the sporting spectacle.
What I do have a problem is watching a race in a country that has an appalling human rights record and as we should know in recent news, the imprisonment of Princess Latifa, daughter of the UAE prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Sport plays an important part in society and it can reflect the deep political world we live in. We are seeing sport take a stance against racism but what about human rights? I honestly believe that with the platform sports personalities have right now, they could with a personal choice, maybe speak out. I would also like to see the UCI held accountable too? Why are we giving countries with appalling human rights, lack of accountability and terrible violations of press freedom, space to present sport as a cover-up to all their ills. It is nothing against the mass population of the UAE, only the government of the day that shouldn’t be given free reign promoting sport as a cover-up to appalling abuses of power.
For most of the riders finishing this year’s UAE Tour, Europe is their next destination with stage races in preparation for the Grand Tours ahead. Loads of cycling still to come. The road season has barely started!
