Elia Viviani wins stage 2 of the Dubai Tour(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
A happy Elia Viviani after the finish(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Elia Viviani (Team Sky) won the second stage of the 2015 Tour Dubai, marking his first win for his new team. Viviani waited patiently as the sprint started and then followed Astana's Andrea Guardini before opening up his own powerful kick with about 100 meters to go. He held off a late charge from stage 1 winner Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep), who finished second in the blue leader's jersey ahead of Guardini.
The day started with a breakaway of five riders that included Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani CSF), Rafaa Chtioui (Skydive Dubai), Davide Frattini (UnitedHealthcare), Bernhard Eisel (Team Sky) and Chun Kai Feng (Lampre-Merida). Eisel and Battaglin sat up after the first intermediate sprint to leave the three others on their own. The trio of escapee built an ultimate gap of 5:30 before BMC picked up that chase in crosswinds that started at about 68km.
Chtioui decided to go solo with 61km remaining, but his effort in the crosswinds was no match for the chasing peloton, and he was caught with 10km to go, setting up the sprint and Viviani's victory. Cavendish hangs onto his overall race lead by two seconds over Viviani and six seconds over Guardini heading into Friday's stage 3.
Watch the video below for highlights of stage 2 of the Tour of Dubai and click here to subscribe to the Cyclingnews video channel.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
