Abu Dhabi Tour 2017 – Stage 2 Preview

By David Hunter

Al Maryah Island – Al Marina 153km

The second stage sees the riders stay in the city. It’s very hard to see anything else than another sprint battle.

This stage will be all about the final 5km

Finale

An easier finish than today, with big sweeping corners the only obstacle for the riders to tackle. The final corner comes with 350m remaining, so it’s going to be a huge battle to control the bunch at that point. Lead outs and positioning will be very important.

Contenders

Marcel Kittel – he was in a great position today, but we’ll never now what might have happened. He didn’t seem too cut up when he crossed the line, and none of his teammates seemed to go down in the crash either. That means, they should be good to fight for this stage. The train did look strong, as Kittel still had two men in front of him with 1km remaining. That was as strong as Dimension Data and better than the other teams.

Andre Greipel – I’m liking the 2017 version of Greipel, who seems at ease inside the closing kilometre. The Gorilla seems to be coping without a final lead out man and is enjoying surfing the wheels. He didn’t have the power to come round Cavendish today, but  that doesn’t mean he won’t win this stage.

Mark Cavendish – was given a brilliant lead out by his team and Bonifazio! Van Rensburg was looking good, Renshaw was strong, but what on Earth was Bonifazio doing? Launching his sprint from that distance just acted as a terrific lead out for Cavendish. He locked onto the Italian’s wheel and took a great win. It was his first of 2017 and a confident Cav is a rider to fear. Will start this stage as the favourite.

Caleb Ewan – that looked a heavy crash today. I doubt we’ll see him able to compete for the win.

Elia Viviani – seems the best option of the “lesser” sprinters. The Italian looked in decent form today and can usually come up with a surprise. He finished 5th today without a huge amount of effort.

Niccolò Bonifazio – patience required! He was in a decent position today, but launching his sprint from that distance was a sign that he didn’t fancy himself against the others. Bahrain put him into a good position and he’ll be hoping for a good result.

Prediction Time

Dimension Data have the best train and Cavendish looked very good today. It’s going to be another Cavendish victory.

*Overall preview

David Hunter

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