It was a long wait for Caleb Ewan after stage 1 of the UAE Tour to find out whether or not he had scooped up his first WorldTour level win in almost a year. The Lotto Dstny rider worked his way into the lead group in a crosswind strewn day and then in the sprint crossed the line alongside Tim Merlier in a finish that was ultimately so close that even the slow motion video and photo finish didn’t make it clear who had won.
The Australian initially threw his arm in the air after his quickly making ground in his dash from behind Merlier's wheel in the final metres – ‘when in doubt claim it’ Ewan said jokingly on instagram – but the uncertainty soon grew. The pair were again alongside each other as they leaned close to the screen in the podium area when the slow motion replay was showing, straining to see who might be the victor in a race that came down to millimetres. They weren't the only ones wondering, with discussion of a potential dead heat flowing in social media and in commentary booths and Merlier's team posting on the finish line photo on Twitter with the caption 'you tell us who won'.
In the end it was Merlier, but after a day where Ewan had made all the right moves, there was every reason for a positive outlook despite such a close miss of the top step.
“But what can I say about it…? I wouldn’t do anything different, really,” said Ewan in a team media release. “I was almost fast enough but apparently not quite enough.”
“Obviously, it’s disappointing to miss out on the stage win with such a narrow margin. But the main thing to take away is the fact that I was up there, which shows the good form I’m in and it’s only promising for the next sprint stages this week.”
The stage which started at Al Dhafra Castle was ripped apart in the crosswinds early, with a group of around 20 riders with some serious firepower among it splitting off out the front in the opening kilometres.
“It was a very tough day out with the echelons happening straight away ...,” said Ewan. “Only one or two kilometres in, I punctured and was forced to go for a wheel change, right when all the action started and splits occurred. I was way at the back but eventually my teammates helped me in making my way through the groups and getting back to the first chasing group.”
That chase ultimately made the junction with around 50km to go and Ewan linked up with his Lotto Dstny teammate Jarrad Drizners, a rider he had also depended on during the Australian summer while racing with the national team. The peloton was closing behind but there was no sitting back and letting the advantage disappear.
“Just when we thought it would all come back together we managed to split the group again and be up front," said Ewan. "Of course Jarrad Drizners was a big help out front and made sure I could get to the sprint.”
The split left about a dozen riders up the front, with Ewan joined by sprinters such as Merlier, Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) along with overall contenders Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious).
The key sprinters each had at least one teammate alongside them in the group, Drizners continuing to work on the front on the run into the line until Bert Van Lerberghe wound up the pace to lead out his Soudal-QuickStep teammate Merlier. The Belgian champion went early, and Ewan who was positioned behind him, came out with enough momentum to mount a last moment challenge, which may well have been successful if the line had been even just a few centimetres further down the road on stage 1.
Ewan will now have till later in the week for an opportunity to claim his first WorldTour level sprint victory since last year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, with stage two of the UAE Tour delivering a team time trial and stage 3 a summit finish atop Jebel Jais. Thursday’s stage 4, however, signals the start of a run of flat, sprint friendly stages which only ends with the stage 7 race finale atop Jebel Hafeet.
