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Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) beat Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-Alula) in Abu Dhabi with a frenzied sprint win on Stage 6 of the UAE Tour.
The penultimate stage of the main race is also the last chance for the sprinters. With so many fast players still chasing the first victory of the week, it is inevitable that there will be a tense finale.
Merlier, already winning on the break on opening day, showed his sanity and strength here to claim his second win of the week, hitting the front on the crown of the final corner and repelling the fast approaching Bennett.
Stage 5 winner Groenewegen had to settle for third ahead of Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) and Fernando Gaviria (Movistar).
Mark Cavendish (Astana-Kazakhstan) was disappointed when he was unable to sprint after suffering a puncture in the final 2km.
“Today was a good day. Really busy, everybody was nervous because it was the last sprint, I thought it was the last chance, and it was really dangerous,” Merrill said after the race. “In the last 500 meters I found a good position and I went from a long distance. That’s enough for today.
“We scouted the stage and we knew it was going to be very busy, like the last few days. But we found a good way, you need a little luck.”
Larry Warbasse (AG2R Citroën), Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Samuele Zoccarato (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) took a day-long break to keep the stage energized. The trio took the biggest lead four minutes north before the peloton began to reel them in, with Warbasse the last man standing with 5km to go.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) finished safely in the peloton, holding the overall lead ahead of Jebel Hafeet in Sunday’s summit finale. The Belgian was nine seconds ahead of Luke Prap (Ineos), with Pello Bilbao third overall at 13 seconds.
“It’s the highest level of sprinters here, so winning two really good sprints and a TTT is very special for us. Now we have a day to go,” said Evenepoel, who is very much on track for an overall victory on Sunday.
“Of course it will be a fantastic win. I’ve said in the winter that I want to be in good form on the UAE tour. We’ll try to defend the jersey well and maybe try to get on stage again tomorrow. .”
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