James Knox finishes eighth in the overall standings, his best ever GC result at World Tour level.
If there’s one rider whose consistency has made him a top performer in the Middle East over the past years, then that’s Elia Viviani, who has picked up nine victories and claimed four secondary classifications since 2015, be it at the Dubai Tour, Abu Dhabi Tour, or more recently, at the UAE Tour, which this season ran its inaugural edition after the two former events decided to merge.
After notching up his 70th pro win on stage 5, which culminated with what was arguably the most spectacular bunch sprint of the season so far, Viviani made sure of securing the green jersey by mopping up points at the intermediate sprints in the last two days, doubled by another important haul of points thanks to his top 5 place finish in Dubai, where the race concluded with another mass gallop.
“I’m a bit disappointed after today, because we were a bit too far back going into the final corner and this ended up costing me in the sprint. On the other hand, coming into the race, winning the green jersey was one of my goals and we did everything to get it, the team was very strong, I won a stage and all these things please me. Tirreno-Adriatico is next for me and I will be fully focused on this event and racing in front of my countrymen with the beautiful Italian National Champion jersey”, Elia said after the finish.
Viviani wasn’t the only Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider to shine in the Emirates, where James Knox – who resumed competition after a solid campaign in the southern hemisphere – showed the immense progress he has made since joining the team and performed well on the two mountain top finishes of the UAE Tour, Jebel Hafeet and Jebel Jais.
Top 10 on both occasions – ahead of many well-established World Tour riders and even Grand Tour winners – an impressive effort which put him into eight overall, James admitted he wasn’t expecting such an outcome at the beginning of the week: “It’s been really great for me and I have to thank the team for all the help. The legs were good on the climbs, in a quality race and against a quality field, which is encouraging. I am chuffed for myself to be up there with riders I’ve never really managed to hang with before. That’s great for me to see, the improvement and development I have made. All the hard work is paying off and hopefully I will continue this trend in Europe and fight for some more good results.”
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
