It was an exciting conclusion to the end of the opening stage of the Dubai Tour. Aqua Blue Sport was to the fore, pressing its case all the way over the 167km in the sunshine of the Middle East. In the end, Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-Soudal) won from Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana).
Andy Fenn of Aqua Blue Sport attacks Dubai Tour stage 1
Irish team Aqua Blue Sport has gone on the attack on the opening stage of the Dubai Tour.
Its man Andy Fenn went clear in the main breakaway of the day.
He was with Daniel Teklehaimanot (Cofidis), Mohammed Almansoori (United Arab Emirates), Nathan Van Hooydonck (BMC Racing) and Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk).
And when two men pushed on from that escape with just over 20km remaining, Fenn was one of them; with Planet.
And after working with Planet for a short period, Fenn attacked on his own.
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With the gap having dipped under 30 seconds, Fenn pushed it back above one minute as he committed out front.
However, QuickStep and Katusha-Alpecin were leading the charge behind. As a result, it looked like a big ask for Fenn to stay clear on his own.
And with just over 9km remaining on the 167km stage into Palm Jumeriah, Fenn was recaptured.
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That paved the way for a mass bunch sprint, a crash near the front just after Fenn was caught the only incident of note on the run-in.
QuickStep and Katusha-Alpecin rode side by side on the front, leading out Elia Viviani and Marcel Kittel respectively.
But it was Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-Soudal) who stole a march on them. He pinned Viviani up against the barriers and held him off to his right.
On Groenewegen’s outside Magnus Cort Nielsen (Astana) finished very quickly. He almost took it on the line. But he had to be content with runner-up slot from Groenewegen.
Viviani was 3rd on the day, with Kittel and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) two notable absentees from the top 10.
Irish cyclists in Dubai Tour
There are three Irish riders in the race; the Aqua Blue Sport duo Matt Brammeier and Conor Dunne as well as BMC's Nicolas Roche.
With the crash at 8km to go, Brammeier and Dunne were held up. They finished in 84th and 100th - some 3:16 and 6:19 down respectively.
Roche finished in the bunch; taking 34th place. He had been working hard in the finale for team mate Jempy Drucker.
However, the team said the pair were behind Aqua Blue Sport's Adam Blythe. And when he had a mechanical issue it interrupted the BMC duo's effort.
For his part, Blythe was his team's best finisher in 11th place on the day.
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