UAE Tour 2019: Stage 1

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January 1 - March 2, Al Hudayriat, UAE, Road - WorldTour

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Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 1 of the UAE Tour. Today's stage is  16km team time trial.

Nibali, Valverde, Gaviria and Cavendish line up for first-ever UAE Tour - Preview

As we go live the riders are warming up and studying the 16km circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The team time trial, entirely on the island of Hudayriat, has a very fast course, with straights punctuated only by two U-turns just before and after km 3.

The teams trained on the course yesterday and this morning and will use time trial bikes. 

Gazprom will be the first team away in about 10 minutes.

This is the start list times. All times are local (GMT+4).

Gazprom is in the start area and about to start.

Sadhbh O'Shea is in the UAE for Cyclingnews and has told us there is a slight breeze blowing across the course, with temperatures of 30C.

This is the map of the TTT course. It will be fast!  

The Gazprom riders are lining up on the wide TTT start ramp. 

They're off! Gazprom is the first team away on the 16km TTT. 

Next up are Novo Nordisk and then the WorldTour teams start, with UAE Team Emirates and Mitchelton-Scott. 

The wide roads allow the riders to form an echelon formation to help fight the wind.

The UAE Team Emirates riders warm up just before their ride.

Novo Nordisk start their ride. They're promoting the treatment of diabetes in the UAE with their presence.  

UAE Team Emirates are under way. They have Gaviria and Kristoff in their line-up.

Mitchelton-Scott are on the ramp. This is going to get serious and very fast, very soon.

Several sections of the course share one road and so the width narrows, adding an extra tactical twist.

It also allows teams to see each other in action.

Gazprom stop the click in 17:46. that is the time to beat.

Meanwhile EF Education First are underway.

Their squad includes Tejay van Garderen and Sacha Modolo.

EF are quickly up to speed and into formation.

6km to go for UAE Team Emirates. They are all together for now.

They're riding at 53km/h!

To fight the breeze they're riding almost a double line.

18:35 for Novo Nordisk.

Next off is Dimension Data, with Mark Cavendish and GC riders Louis Meintjes and Roman Kreiziger.

Cavendish carefully leads them through the start area and out into the open roads.

Kristoff sits up after giving his all in the TTT for UAE. 

UAE is down to 4 riders. They set a time of 17:25.

Gaviria brings the quartet home and so will wear the leaders jersey if UAE go on to win the TTT.

Bora set off for the 16km TTT. Their team leader is Davide Formolo, with Pete Kennaugh chasing stage victories. 

Mitchelton-Scott set a new best time of 17:21. They are four seconds faster than UAE.  

Katusha is off next. They will be hoping to place Kittel well up the GC to perhaps take the lead after Monday's stage.

Their line-up also includes GC rider Ilnur Zakarin.

EF lose s rider as they keep the speed high. 

EF finish in five riders. They set a time of 17:15. 

Dimension Data are fast. Just one second slower than EF at the time split. 

Here come Dimension Data. They set a time of 17: 17

Bahrain-Merida set off, with new signing Rohan Dennis leading the line of riders.

Here come Bora. They're fast!

Bora set 17:17, like Dimension Data, but they are also 2 seconds slower than EF Education.

Jumbo-Visma set off.

Here come Katusha but they seem off the pace. 

They're split and so Kittel has to ease up and wait for the 4th rider, that stops the clock. 

Katusha set a time of 17:34. That is high. Perhaps something happened during their ride.

This is Jumbo-Visma on the start ramp.

Astana are underway. Can they win again? 

Bahrain-Merida look well drilled as they blast around the course. 

Movistar are next to start.

10 of the 20 teams have finished so far. Trek-Segafredo with Mollema and Porte will be off soon. 

Here come Bahrain. They set a time of 16:58. And take the lead! 

Here is Bahrain-Merida in action. They will be hard to beat today.

We spoke too soon.

However Jumbo are down to 4 riders for the finale kilometres. 

Jumbo-Visma set a time of 16:49.

Roglic was the first over the line and so could be the first race leader. 

Riders are using 58 chain rings today to pedal at over 55km/h on the tailwind sections.

Indeed, Jumbo rode at 57km/h.

Trek-Segafredo are off as Astana finish.

Movistar are taking risks and riding a double line into the headwind.

Lotto Soudal is next off, with Caleb Ewan their protected rider.

Warm-up is vital before a TTT.

Movistar set 17:07.

CCC Team is next off.

Team Sky is off next. Can they be a threat to Jumbo-Visma? 

Groupama-FDJ set a time of 17:18. Allez le gars!

Trek-Segafredo are not fast enough. Tenth fastest.

Team Sunweb is off next. Can they threaten Jumbo? 

Sunweb take a tight corner carefully. That could have lost them a second or two.

Deceuninck-QuickStep are off. 

CCC Team sets 17:13. Good but not good enough. 

Sunweb look well-drilled as they ride in a fast paceline.

Interesting to see that Sunweb are using disc-brake TT bikes. 

Team Sky set 17:03. Not bad but 14 slower than Jumbo.

All the teams are underway. 

Here come Sunweb.

Sunweb set 16:56.  

That is 7 seconds slower than Jumbo.

2km to go for QuickStep.

They are still in seven and riding at 67km/h with the tail wind.

Evenepole is on the front in the final km! 

He brings them home but they set 17:15.  

Jumbo-Visma win the 16km TTT.

Roglic brought home his teammates and so will pull on the leader's red jersey.

This is Jumbo-Visma in action in the UAE.

The Jumbo riders congratulate and hug each other. 

Jumbo beat Sunweb by 7 seconds, with Bahrain third at 14 seconds and Team Sky fourth at 14 seconds. 

The seven Jumbo-Visma riders collect their medals and winner's trophy after their stage win. 

Thanks to crossing the line first, Roglic leads the GC, ahead of his teammates Laurens de Plus, Jos van Emden and Koen Bouwman.

Roglic pull on the red jersey. Jumbo do not have a sprinter at the UAE Tour and so will  no doubt be chasing overall victory with the Slovenian rider.

Roglic also collects the black intermediate sprints jersey and the green points jersey.

Laurens de Plus pulls on the best young rider white jersey. 

This is Jumbo on the podium.

Looking further down the results, we can see how many seconds some of the GC contenders lost to Roglic.

Dumoulin is only seven seconds down on Roglic. Nibali, Caruso and Dennis are at 9 seconds, Kwiatkowski is at 14 seconds and Valverde is at 18 seconds.

Other riders are further back and so will race with a significant handicap. 

UAE and Dan Martin is at 36 seconds, while Mollema and Porte are at 43 seconds. 

This was the moment that Jumbo-Visma hit the line and set the fastest time.

This is Primoz Roglic in the podium in the race leader's red jersey.

Roglic said: 

Thanks for joining us for full live coverage of the opening stage of the UAE Tour.

To read our full stage report and see our growing photo gallery, click here.

To follow our live coverage of the Volta ao Algarve and see if Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) can win overall, click here. 

 

 

We'll also have full reports and photo galleries from the Tour du Haut Var in France, the Ruta del Sol in Spain and the women's Setmana Valenciana.  

Our reporters are in the UAE, Spain and Portugal gathering news and exclusive interviews. Check back later on Cyclingnews for those.  

Join us on Monday for live coverage from stage 2 of the UAE Tour. 

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