Pascal Ackermann (BORA-hansgrohe) sprinted to victory on stage 1 of UAE Tour in front of Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Rudy Barbier (Israel Start-Up Nation). The German is thereby also the first rider in the leader’s jersey this year.
At the beginning of the stage, the peloton let a small breakaway of four riders get away to enjoy the day at the front, while making sure the gap never exceeded three minutes. In fact, Velon data showed that the pace in the pack slowed throughout the day, as the teams of the sprinters weren’t interested in catching the break too early.
As the riders took on the last 10 km, it was all back together again and the fight for positions began at the front of the peloton. Mitchelton-SCOTT did well to lead out their sprinter, Luka Mezgec, but Ackermann got a jump on the Slovenian and he managed hold off Mezgec - and the rest of his rivals - as he powered to victory in Dubai.
What a sprint by Pascal Ackermann (@BORAhansgrohe) to take the victory on stage 1 of @uae_tour!
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) February 23, 2020
⚡️Avg Speed: 70.9 km/h⚡️
💥Max Speed: 77.0 km/h💥
⚡️Avg Power: 1020 W⚡️
💥Max Power: 1520 W💥
🚴♂️Avg Cadence: 110 rpm🚴♂️
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🇦🇪 #UAETour pic.twitter.com/TRSm1KQ94x
Tomorrow, a difficult stage 2 awaits the riders with almost 3000 meters of climbing before they finish on the short but steep ascent on Hatta Dam. Last year, Ewan took the win on this finish. It will be interesting to see if the Australian can repeat that performance and do one better than today of the if the GC riders will have a say as well.
