Viviani wins today's sprint in Dubai, another messy affair on some huge wide highways. Kirby got VERY SHOUTY in excitement when Cav got involved in the finish, though he faded away to about fifth. Groenewegen finished fast so expect he kept the race lead.
"CAV'S BACK KERPOW" screams Kirby as the Manxman wins his first race for almost a year. Right chaotic sprint (again) as everyone ended up giving each other leadouts. Bonuses will have been shared around all over the place so no-one has a great deal to defend on the queen stage to that dam tomorrow.
Exciting finale coming up in Dubai, Brandon McNulty of Rally is 1:14 clear with about 9k left. Astana keep chucking riders off the front as part of the chase. He's only 0.14 back on Viviani overall, he's picked up a time bonus of a second today, he could steal this race.
Saw an article earlier today by Philippa York suggesting Sky are subtly and carefully preparing to throw Froome under the bus. With performances like that from Egan Bernal you can see the team's future.
It is going to take a while for me to internalize which of the FDJ riders is the French road race champion and which one is the Dutch road race champion.
Should be an interesting season ahead for Groenewegen. At 24, he's only a year older than Gaviria and Ewan and has a similar number of wins to those two. I'd say that's the top three sprinters under 25 ahead of this season. I'd instinctively wanted to bracket Sam Bennett in there for some reason but he's actually the same age as Bouhanni and slightly older than Démare.
Magnus Cort Nielsen, who has recently turned 25, says 'hello' with a win in Oman.
It is going to take a while for me to internalize which of the FDJ riders is the French road race champion and which one is the Dutch road race champion.
I find I get it right if I focus on the shoulders: blue for Les Bleus, red for the Dutch.
We're almost into proper cycling season territory now, aren't we? Omloop on Saturday! And, in true Sky fashion, their two-time winner of the race Ian Stannard is not in their provisional squad for it.
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