Elia Viviani owns just a slender two-second lead at the top of the Dubai Tour general classification heading into Saturday’s finale but the Italian can find comfort in the considerable gap he created between himself and his main sprint rivals during Friday’s fourth stage.
Viviani retained his leader’s blue jersey on top of Hatta Dam after claiming sixth place following a steep summit finish.
The Quick-Step Floors rider had started stage four with a four-second advantage over sprint star Mark Cavendish – the winner in Fujairah on day three – but Viviani’s Hatta exploits means he is now well ahead of the Manxman in the overall standings.
Cavendish, who placed 20th on Friday, 11 seconds behind, now trails Viviani by 15 seconds in the GC to lie 12th, while two-time defending champion Marcel Kittel is 28 seconds adrift of the Italian in 17th.
It gives Viviani confidence ahead of today’s sprint finish at City Walk, where he hopes to secure the Dubai Tour title. Two seconds separate him from Magnus Cort Nielsen in the GC, with yesterday’s stage winner Sonny Colbrelli two seconds behind.
“Sure I created this chance (to win the Dubai Tour) today. We started this day with four seconds on Cav and the main goal was maybe to have more seconds on the pure sprinters,” Viviani told reporters on Friday.
“It’s better to have two seconds on Cort Nielsen than two seconds on Cav or Kittel because tomorrow they can potentially beat me on the sprint.
“So I think we saw a few combinations, we can hope the guy in the breakaway [Brandon McNulty] arrives and takes the 10 seconds but at the same time, if you see the sprint, Cort Nielsen can win this race, because he came from so far back, and if he won, he takes the [overall] lead.
“So in that moment I’m really happy to have two seconds on Nielsen and four on Colbrelli and then play the game tomorrow.”
1 day to go and 2” is a small gap, but the jersey are in our sholders and I have a strong @quickstepteam behind me #keepfight #thanksboys #youareamazing pic.twitter.com/2DA1mGL3Ey
— ELIA VIVIANI (@eliaviviani) February 9, 2018
The final climb up Hatta damn is a short 400m ascent but with a brutal peak gradient of 17 per cent. It is one that has been conquered by a sprinter in the past, when John Degenkolb triumphed in the uphill finish in 2015. Viviani tried to replicate that moment on Friday but couldn’t quite pull it off.
“I felt pretty good on the climb so I said to the guys to try to close the gap. After the last climb I asked [Niki] Terpstra and [Yves] Lampaert to pull full gas because 50 seconds here and 3km to go is too much time,” said Viviani on the gap McNulty had over the rest in the final kilometres.
“We know in the last kick we can close 20 or 30 seconds but we were not sure to close all 50 seconds. On the side they did a really super strong job like always. Also Lampaert led me in the last corner, so a little bit of movement after the last corner and I think I couldn’t do better than this. I just needed to control not to keep a gap on the other guys.
“If you see the sprint, Colbrelli did an amazing sprint, and Cort Nielsen too. So I think sixth place is okay for me today.”
Viviani took over the blue jersey after claiming the second stage in Ras Al Khaimah on Wednesday, which gave him his second win of the season with his new Quick-Step team.
The 29-year-old from Isola della Scala has arguably the strongest lead-out train in the peloton this week and knows the onus is on him to take Saturday’s fifth and final stage – a flat 129km ride from Skydive Dubai to City Walk. He has faith in his squad but knows the job is not finished yet.
“If I had won today, I go with a 14-second lead tomorrow, I really can sleep quiet, but I think I need to sleep quiet [anyway] because I have a really strong team to control the race tomorrow and then do the best sprint I can,” said the omnium Olympic champion.
“I think the main goal can be also to win the sprint tomorrow. If I win the sprint tomorrow would be a nice finish to this Dubai Tour.”
