Primoz Roglic has taken the lead in the UAE Tour as his Jumbo-Visma team won the 16km stage one team time trial.
Roglic crossed the finish line ahead of team-mates Laurens De Plus, Jos Van Emden and Koen Bouman in a time of 16 minutes 49 seconds to take the leader’s red jersey, with Tom Dumoulin’s Sunweb team second 7 seconds adrift of the Jumbo-Visma squad.
Bahrain-Merida were the third quickest, completing the Al Hudayriat Island course just 1 second slower than Sunweb.
Speaking after the stage finish, Roglic said: “Looking at the names on paper, we came here with a strong team for the Team Time Trial but there were other strong teams in contention too so we still had to do the job.
“It was great to see all the guys giving 100%. It’s a really nice way to start the season and to realize how well we can do in a TTT.
“Team Sunweb was very close so we were quite nervous waiting for them to cross the line. It’s true that we are here with the goal of winning GC but it’s not done yet.
“The rivals we have here are pretty much the same we’ll have in other races later this year. The Giro d’Italia is my main goal but I just look at myself and try to be the best.”
In second place on the finishing line after Roglic, Laurens De Plus became the best young rider in his first race with Team Jumbo-Visma.
The 23-year-old Austrian, who was part of the Quick-Step Team who won the World Team Time Trial Championship last October, is competing in his maiden event for his new team since joining at the end of the season.
He said: “It was a dream and a goal to perform well in my first race with Jumbo-Wisma.
“It was hard to come straight from altitude training to the UAE Tour but it worked out very well.
“We had a super strong and well balanced team.
“We’re really happy. I’m the best young rider for now but our priority is to win the GC with Primoz.”
Bahrain-Merida were searching for a decent showing on the opening day to keep their overall classification hopes alive in the Emirates, with Vincenzo Nibali and Rohan Dennis taking third.
Dennis, who finished fifth in the Tour Down Under last month, said: “It was difficult, however, it is a good start for us on this event but also for us in this team time trial exercise because most of us are new to the training. All the runners have made good relays.”
🇦🇪 #UAETour
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) February 24, 2019
The winning team! @rogla @LaurensDePlus @tonymartin85 @PMartens83 @josvanemden @koenbouwman and Tom Leezer 👌🏆🥇 pic.twitter.com/Lh5uQH7Mab
