Race results
Stage 1: Madinat Zayed › Adnoc School: 189km
Winner: Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) Kristoff’s victory was the best possible way for the organiser and UAE Team Emirates to start the tour. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) could not take part, abandoning only 5km in after a crash in the neutral zone caused by the race director’s car. The car’s sensors caused it to brake, said the director, and left Cavendish with a concussion and whiplash.
Stage 2: Yas Mall › Yas Beach: 154km
Winner: Elia Viviani (Quick Step Floors) Viviani made sure to thank his entire team for seeing him through the crosswinds and to the win. First-year English pro James Knox received a special nod for helping pull Viviani from the second echelon to the first in time for the sprint.
Stage 3: Nation Towers › Big Flag: 133km
Winner: Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb) Bauhaus topped a German podium, with the attention going to Marcel Kittel. Kittel surged from far behind to the line, just missing victory and his first with new team Katusha-alpecin by millimetres. “It’s still February,” he said when it was put to him that nearly all other top sprinters have opened their 2018 accounts.
Stage 4: Al Maryah Island TT: 12.6km
Winner: Rohan Dennis (BMC) Dennis’s win came with an asterisk, as Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) in his rainbow jersey debut suffered a mechanical. The world champion finished 31 seconds back after a shifting problem, both during his warm-up and the race. “It was something due to the electronics,” Dumoulin said, “It really sucked.”
Stage 5: Qasr Al Muwaiji › Jebel Hafeet: 199km
Winner: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) Dennis suffered early on the closing 10km climb, stars Fabio Aru, Ilnur Zakarin and Simon Yates faded as well. Valverde launched once and then followed López’s move to ride clear of overnight leader Dennis. Dumoulin rode for Kelderman, but stopped and threw his bike after a wheel problem.