Mathieu van der Poel powered into an early lead on the UAE Tour after the Dutchman received a dash end on the finish of a gap stag that was blown aside by vicious crosswinds. The Alpecin-Fenix rider beat compatriot David Dekker (Jumbo-Visma) with relative ease, whereas Deceuninck-Fast Step leadout man Michael Morkov took third.
Though he additionally beat Elia Viviani (Cofidis), who was competing in his first race since present process a coronary heart operation, Van der Poel went largely untested after quite a few the highest sprinters — Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Fast Step) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) — had been caught out by the crosswinds. It was not solely the sprinters that had been hampered by the echelons that shaped within the flat and quick stage. Chris Froome, making his debut for Israel Begin-up Nation, completed over eight minutes down on Van der Poel whereas Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Victorious) and Ivan Sosa (Ineos Grenadiers) additionally paid the value for lacking the early break up.
Adam Yates, the defending champion who was making his Ineos Grenadiers debut, made it into the lead bunch earlier than the Briton lastly completed alongside Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Fast Step), simply 3sec behind pre-race favorite Tadej Pogacar (UAE Staff Emirates).