Elia Viviani seals Dubai Tour overall win with last day victory

Elia Viviani reigned supreme on the fifth and final stage of the Dubai Tour, netting Quick-Step Floors’ fourth straight GC triumph at the Middle East race.

For Viviani, it was the second overall win of his career, nearly five years after coming out on top in the Tour of Elk Grove, a short stage race in the United States.

The Italian, whose previous best overall result at the Dubai Tour was a fifth place, went into the final day of the event with a two-second buffer over Magnus Cort (Astana) in the rankings, after putting in a brave fight on the Hatta Dam climb.

Many teams got in the mix to set up the final bunch gallop of the Dubai Tour, and the nervousness that ensued led to a crash on the last right hand corner of the stage, taking several riders to the ground, while others found themselves blocked behind the pile-up.

That incident also meant Viviani had to put in quite the effort to close the gap to the ones in the front, which he did thanks to the help of Fabio Sabatini before opening the sprint with 100 meters remaining and overhauling Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin) and Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue Sport) for his third victory of the season.

“This morning I tried to stay relaxed, but now I must admit that I was very nervous, because my margin in the general classification was a slender one. Our tactic was to let join the break only riders who weren’t posing a danger in the overall, so we don’t have to pull all day long, because I needed all my six teammates for the closing part of the stage. In the final kilometer, Saba did an outstanding job, avoiding the crash, then closing the gap and leading me out. All I had to do was patiently wait, because we had a headwind, and it was important to leave it as late as possible”, said Viviani.

https://youtu.be/V4MU_0hVIBg?t=2456

Dubai Tour 2018 – stage 5 results (Skydive Dubai – City Walk):

Final general classification: