Mori wears the black jersey as leader of the intermediate sprints

UAE Team Emirates immediately flies in the home race, the Abu Dhabi Tour.

Thanks to a lively performance by Manuele Mori, to a huge harmony in the team and to the fresh power of Simone Consonni in the sprint, the evaluation for the Emirati team of the opening stage of the World Tour race (Madinat Zayed-Madinat Zayed) is very good.

An attack attempt was enough for Mori and other six riders (photo Bettini) to go clear from the bunch and reaching a maximum advantage of 5′.
At km 57,2, in Liwa, the breakaway members battle for the victory of the intermediate sprint, which was won by Manuele Mori, who repeat the success also in the second intermediate sprint (km 126,7).

This double success gave to the Italian rider the leadership in the intermediate sprints classification, however it was not the only one exposure source for Mori in the stage: he was mounting on his Colnago C60 bike a data device which was transmitting live to the tv and to the website of Velon the cadence, the power and the heart rate.

In the second part of the stage, the peloton reduced the gap from the front of the race and it neutralized the breakaway at 13 km to go (Mori last member of the breakaway to surrender).

The teams started to work in view of a massive sprint, however they had to face a crash at -1km which mixed up the plans.
UAE Team Emirates faced this situation in a perfect way: Guardini, who was the designated sprinter, communicated immediately to his team mates that he was not in the front of the peloton, so Ben Swift could quickly give his support to Simone Consonni, leading him to -500 meters.
The Italian Under 23 champion was forced to recover some meters in the sprint, succeeding in being very close to the podium: he was 4th for few centimeters from the 3rd place of Bonifazio; the sprint was won by Cavendish on Greipel.

“All the riders of our team were aware of the importance of having the best possible exposure in this race and I feel we did a good job – Mori explained – I did not hesitate after the start and I joined the breakaway.

It was not an easy day, we forced a lot, however I managed to win the two intermediate sprints, obtaining an appearance on the cerimony podium“.

Simone Consonni commented: “This is my first result in the top 5 as pro, I’m fairly satisfied, even if I missed the podium for few centimeters.

The crash changed the plans of many teams, we as UAE Team Emirates reacted very quickly and Swift was great in leading me to the the final 500 meters: his action was so powerful and perfect!

I had to recover some meters because a rider slowed down, this forced me to a recovery in the sprint. I did not succeed to be on the podium, it would have been a special feeling“.

STAGE RESULTS
1- Cavendish 4h37’06”
2- Greipel s.t.
3- Bonifazio s.t.
4- Consonni s.t.
5- Viviani s.t.
17- Rui Costa s.t., 19- Swift s.t., 27- Guardini s.t., 46- Ulissi s.t., 51- Meintjes s.t., 97- Mori s.t., 111- Durasek s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1- Cavendish 4h36’56”
2- Greipel 4″
3- Mori s.t.
4- Bonifazio 6″
5- Maestri 8″