photo credit @ Team Sky/Twitter
Elia Viviani (Team Sky) outsprinted world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) to claim the final stage of inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour today – marking the Sky rider’s second stage win in this year’s four-day race.
Meanwhile, Andrea Guardini (Astana) rounded out the podium in third place, with Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) finishing safely in the peloton to seal the overall race victory, after winning the Queen stage on Saturday.
Race Highlights
Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) and Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-Quick Step), marked the day’s first breakaway group. However, the trio’s reign out front was brought to a close by the peloton during the final 4 laps.
From there, Will Clarke (Drapac) and Francisco Manchebo Perez (Skydive Dubai) tried their luck out the front during the penultimate lap, but a determined peloton, led by Team Wiggins, eventually caught them shortly after they entered into the final lap.
Team Sky then took up the pace-setting during final kilometer, but given the wide circuit and sweeping corners- it was tough to keep an advantage.
As race entered the final 500 meters, Sagan once again looked poised for victory, but just as before, the Slovakian rider was unable to overtake Viviani in a furious dash for the line.
photo credit @ Orica – GreenEdge
Top 10 Finishers
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 2:22:43 2 Peter Sagan (Slo) Tinkoff – Saxo 3 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 4 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team 5 Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare 6 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant – Alpecin 7 Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club 8 Juan José Lobato (Spa) Movistar Team 9 Łukasz Wiśniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick Step 10 José Joaquín Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
Final General Classification
1 Johan Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge 13:13:55 2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:16 3 Wouter Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:27 4 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) UnitedHeathcare 0:00:41 5 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 6 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx-Quick Step 0:01:23 7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:29 8 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 10 Patrick Conrad (Aut) Bora-Argon 18 0:01:40
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