UAE Tour stage 2 live coverage

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Another day for the sprinters and the potential for crosswinds

UAE Tour 2022 stage 2

(Image credit: RCS Sport)

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the second stage of the UAE Tour, another pan flat stage and likely to be another sprint showdown.

136km to go

2:50 between the breakaway and peloton at the moment.

The peloton is strung out at the moment due to the high speeds. You can see the sand blowing across the road.

66kph reported at the head of the peloton now. Groupama-FDJ, Ineos Grenadiers, EF-EasyPost, BikeExchange-Jayco among the teams up front.

A split is starting towards the front! Around 30 riders have a small gap on the lined out remainder of the peloton.

The groups are back together now. The front of the peloton is more spread across the road but the majority behind are lined out almost in single file.

Three men in the break for Gazprom-Rusvelo but they're all in different jerseys today.

125km to go

A look at today's stage map, which sees the riders take a circuitous route around Abu Dhabi.

119km to go

The day's first intermediate sprint at the Wathba Camel Track is coming up soon. Strakhov should take it uncontested, though.

A small group is off the front of the peloton now. Riders are off the back as well.

Strakhov leads Kukrle and Kochetkov over the intermediate sprint point and extends his lead in that classification.

EF and Ineos up front in the peloton as things calm down again.

110km to go

Strakhov is way out in front in the intermediate sprint classification now, having won all three in the race so far. He has 24 points to Alessandro Tonelli's 10 points.

Flags are showing how the strong winds are blowing across the road, but the peloton is calm for now. The gap is back up to 1:30.

102km to go

A couple of nice shots of the peloton from early on in today's stage.

Back up to 2:50 now and there's no one team in charge at the head of the peloton at the moment.

Ineos Grenadiers lead the peloton for now.

91km to go

No big changes in the peloton so far, aside from bringing the breakaway's advantage down by around 40 seconds.

EF-EasyPost pulling at the front now.

Now it's calm again in the peloton and the gap is back up to 1:55.

Here's a look at our breakaway riders today – Strakhov at the front with Kukrle and Kochetkov behind him.

82km to go

It's not really a surprise that Gazprom-Rusvelo have been so active during this race so far with two in the break yesterday and three today.

79km to go

The dark jerseys of Alpecin-Fenix, Movistar, and Ineos Grenadiers lead the peloton.

We've just seen this tweet showing some pushing in the peloton during yesterday's stage.

71km to go

It's lined out in the peloton once again now. EF-EasyPost and Alpecin-Fenix at the front.

One detail on the finish of Sunday's opening stage here at the UAE Tour...

62km to go

And now it's just over a minute. Let's just say it's hovering at around the minute mark for now.

I guess it's a decent time to look back at yesterday's opening stage in Madinat Zayed.

Philipsen will once again have a swathe of rivals to beat in today's nailed-on sprint finish.

54km to go

50km to go

Alpecin-Fenix are obviously riding for Philipsen here. Movistar will be working on behalf of new signing Kanter, who was seventh yesterday. The 24-year-old former DSM rider is looking for his first career win.

Ineos Grenadier's neo-pro Luke Plapp is enjoying the experience at his WorldTour debut.

45km to go

The riders are back in the city now after a long spell skirting around it in the desert.

To nobody's surprise, Dmitry Strakhov took another eight points at the intermediate sprint. That's 32 for him so far.

Strakhov's 32 points mean he's 22 points clear in the black jersey race. His teammate Michael Kukrle is second on 10 points, while Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè rider Alessandro Tonelli is also on 10 points.

40km to go

Another shot of the peloton from earlier on today.

Just 40 seconds for the breakaway now. The Gazprom-Rusvelo trio realistically have nothing left to fight for today.

36km to go

Strakhov stops to take a nature break at the side of the road as he's caught. Meanwhile the action has slowed right up with the riders battling into a headwind.

The peloton are on the four-lane highway heading to the finish now. We could see the wind have an effect on the run-in to the line on these exposed roads.

Slow going at the moment. Like yesterday, it's looking like another dull period of racing between the break getting caught and the final run to the sprint finish.

33km to go

30km to go

Ganna and Viviani jump out front of the peloton, maybe just to liven up this run-in a little.

Race leader Jasper Philipsen having fun in the peloton on this deathly slow headwind run. He just hopped off the bike and ran alongside it for a few seconds.

25km to go

Now the riders take a turn off the highway and away from the headwind.

FDJ and Bora share the front as the peloton heads west towards the finish.

22km to go

The peloton is bunched up rather than strung here. The speed is around 46kph.

20km to go

Some road furniture causing problems at the rear of the peloton. Still all together as UAE Team Emirates take the front.

15km to go

It doesn't look like the wind is going to have much affect on the final kilometres today.

A rear wheel change for Israel-Premier Tech sprinter Rudy Barbier.

Now QuickStep-AlphaVinyl move to the front.

11km to go

QuickStep, Ineos, FDJ trains up front as EF move up.

10km to go

Now it's Bahrain at the front.

8km to go

Groupama-FDJ's train is up there alongside Bahrain Victorious and Ineos Grenadiers.

6km to go

UAE Team Emirates jump up to the front. The teams are battling for position on this run down the final right-hand turn onto the finishing straight at 1.5 kilometres to go.

Movistar represented at the front now as well. Ineos Grenadiers and Groupama-FDJ still up there.

4km to go

3km to go

Now BikeExchange-Jayco mass on the front on the right-hand side of the road. Bora-Hansgrohe are with them, Jumbo-Visma just behind.

2km to go

1.5km to go

Bora, QuickStep take over under the flamme rouge.

Now Groupama-FDJ come back to the front. EF too.

FDJ have the lead out here.

Bora and Bennett just behind them.

QuickStep and Philipsen come up!

It's Cavendish vs Philipsen in the closing metres!

Cavendish might just had edged that one after a very long sprint.

He's celebrating with his teammates. It looks like it's a win for Cavendish.

Groupama-FDJ took control with three riders on the lead-in but they were swamped as the sprint started. Philipsen and Cavendish came up the right-hand side of the road, while Démare was trapped behind Bennett and his lead out man.

Ackermann grabbed third just ahead of Olav Kooij. 

Here's Cavendish celebrating his victory today.

Today's top 10...

And the top 10 on GC. Philipsen retains the race lead...

Here's what Cavendish had to say after the finish...

A look at the dash for the line – Philipsen on the left vs Cavendish on the right.

Most of the top sprinters here finished in the top 10 on the stage but, as with yesterday, a few missed out on the top positions.

Celebrations after the finish for Cavendish and his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team.

Check out our brief report and results page for stage 2 of the UAE Tour here

Philipsen takes the podium for another red leader's jersey.

Philipsen retains leadership of three of the four jersey classifications at the UAE Tour – the red jersey of the GC leader, the green points jersey, and the white young rider's jersey. After another day in the breakaway, Dmitry Strakhov stays in the lead of the intermediate sprint competition and stays in the black jersey.

That's all for our live coverage for today. We'll have more news from the race coming today and live coverage of stage 3 coming tomorrow.

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