Roglic takes race lead
abu dhabi — Primoz Roglic took the lead in the inaugural UAE Tour as Team Jumbo - Visma won the opening team time trial at 57.086km/h, beating Team Sunweb by 7 seconds, even though Tom Dumoulin’s squad had the best intermediate time with an advantage of 2 seconds.
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. Bahrain-Merida, the team of Vincenzo Nibali and Rohan Dennis, was placed third.
“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”, said Primoz Roglic.
“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,” he added.
“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,” says Roglic.
“It was a dream and a goal to perform well in my first race with Jumbo-Wisma,” said Laurens De Plus, who won the White Jersey.
“We trained for this race all together in January already. 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. At the end, Tony Martin did a very long pull and Tom Leezer rode the best kilometer of his life. We’re really happy! I’m the best young rider for now but our priority is to win the GC with Primoz [Roglic].”
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the winner Roglic said: “It was a very fast time trial and of course we’re very happy to start the season with this performance. We came here with strong time trialists. We didn’t really decided that I’d cross the line first but I took a strong turn at the end. It’s nice to be in the lead and we want to win the race overall, but there are hard stages to come and we have to take it day by day.”
The UAE Team Emirates finished in 13th place, 36 seconds behind the eventual winners Team Jumbo Visma.
Roglic (Jumbo Visma) will now wear the red leaders jersey intoMonday’s 184km race. Riders will set off for the sprint stage from Yas Mall and finish at the Big Flag on the Corniche. This stage will undoubtedly end in a bunch finish for the fast men, with Fernando Gaviria and Alexander Kristoff being the key contenders for UAE Team Emirates.
Looking ahead to the remaining six stages, Dan Martin said: “This is a really important race for the team, our sponsors and our home fans so we want to do well. The whole team is on a high at the moment and it’s a race that suits me. I’ve been out to recon the climbs already and feel good, but we are going to take it day by day and try to do our best.”