One day after getting caught up in the opening stage wreck, the only crashing Yousif Mirza did on day two of the Dubai Tour was of the stage’s breakaway group to earn UAE Team Emirates bonus points.
The Emirati rider finished the race from Skydive Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah in 107th place again, but his work was done well before the finish line as he banked seven intermediate sprint points
Mirza won the first intermediate sprint and then remained in the mix among a breakaway group that also included the UAE National Team’s Mohammed Al Mansoori.
Both were eventually caught by the peloton down the stretch, but Mirza – who admitted to riding more cautiously to avoid another crash – did well to rebound from a disappointing start on day one.
“I’m happy I succeeded in fulfilling the teams expectations for today. The SD were keen for me to join the breakaway and I focused all my attention on that target.” @yousifmirza shows attacking prowess in stage 2 #DubaiTour🇦🇪.
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamUAEAbuDhabi) February 7, 2018
📝REPORT: https://t.co/VNLkfflDTX
📸:Bettini pic.twitter.com/QDxiHH2ohM
“Yesterday I tried, but the race was controlled by the good teams. I tried again today and I went in the breakaway and I was happy to be in the breakaway,” the UAE national champion said. “I tried my best to take some bonus points for the team and I did it with the first sprint and in the second sprint I took third. So it was a good bonus for the team.”
Mirza’s team-mates, meanwhile, were again in the thick of the action at the end as Alexander Kristoff followed up his fifth-place finish with seventh on Stage 2.
The Norwegian was one of several riders that went for the bunch sprint finish, only to be out-paced by winner Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors).
Kristoff also battled Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), with his position next to Degenkolb doing him no favours.
“It was a bit too early on the front,” Kristoff said. “Unfortunately I had John’s wheel, because he was also too far. If he went for a long one, I think I would have had the perfect position. Unfortunately for me, he was also too far and I just tried to keep the speed, but I knew it was too far.”
The wide road in Ras Al Khaimah made for another exciting finish, although this time there was less danger with the riders not nearly as crowded.
“It felt a bit cleaner, but there was many sprinter teams here, so it’s always a lot of fighting for position,” Kristoff said. “But yeah, it was a bit cleaner today.”
