Ireland's Dan Martin is seeking a stage win and possibly even overall victory at UAE Tour. He lost time today, but nothing that would prove fatal to his chances. The day belonged to Primož Roglič's Jumbo-Visma.
Dan Martin has gone into the UAE Tour as one of the favourites for a stage win and with an outside hope of overall victory, though now has work to do.
In the opening 16km team time trial at Al Hudayriat Island, Martin’s UAE Team Emirates finished 13th of the 20 teams in the race.
He relinquished 36 seconds to the winning outfit, Jumbo Visma which includes Primož Roglič.
One of the riders of the year in 2018, Roglič was first of his team over the line today and so he has the race leader’s jersey.
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Given his prowess on the climbs, he may be very difficult to shift from that jersey. However, as he was riding his first race of the season today his form at present is not clear.
But the fact he led his team to victory today suggests he has wintered well, even if he is yet to be tested on the climbs.
Team Sunweb finished 2nd today and lost just seven seconds; a modest disadvantage that bodes well for Tom Dumoulin’s overall chances.
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Dan Martin's UAE Team Emirates get their ride underway. Sam Bennett's Bora-hansgrohe out on the road during their test.
Next was Bahrain Merida; in 3rd place on the day and just nine seconds down. That leaves Vincenzo Nibali in a very decent position.
Team Sky has Michał Kwiatkowski and Gianni Moscon in its line-up and they were 4th today at 14 seconds.
Alejandro Valverde will be many people’s favourite for overall victory over the next week. His Movistar team was 5th today some 18 seconds down.
The result means that as well as losing 36 seconds to Roglič, Dan Martin has conceded 29 seconds to Dumoulin, 27 to Nibali and 22 to Kwiatkowski and Moscon.
On the upside, Martin gained seven seconds on Trek-Segafredo’s general classification hope Richie Porte.
And the Irish climber also put seven seconds into Astana’s Gorka Izagirre, the overall winner of the recent Tour de la Provence.
Sam Bennett’s Bora-hansgrohe was 9th today at 28 seconds. However, as Bennett is not riding for the overall the time loss counts for nothing for him.
He will look to get out of the blocks quickly tomorrow and take his second win of the season on terrain suited to the sprinters, with 184km to Abu Dhabi Big Flag awaiting the riders.
The racing continues until next Saturday and with several chances for the sprinters and a number of uphill finishes, Martin and Bennett should have a number of opportunities.
Roglic on the podium. He's got a stage win and a leader's jersey from his first outing of the year; nice work if you can get it.
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