The second stage of the Abu Dhabi tour was held on a circuit over 129 kilometers.

Like yesterday, Paul Voss took the initiative and attacked right after the start, resulting in a breakaway group with six riders. Voss wore the sprint jersey today and he especially targeted the two intermediate sprints of the stage to earn more points in the sprint classification. But at the first intermediate sprint another rider held him up, so Voss couldn’t accomplish his effort. After a reaction from Voss, he was disqualified by the race jury and he had to leave the race.

After all attackers were caught two kilometers before the finish, BORA – ARGON 18 worked for another bunch sprint. His teammates placed Michael Schwarzmann in the front part of the peloton. The 24-year-old German sprinter proved consistency by sprinting to 10th and finishing in the Top 10 again. Elia Viviani (Sky) won the stage.

"We wanted to defend the sprint jersey and Paul has again initiated the group. Of course it’s a pity that the incident occurred. In the further course of the race we prepared the sprint for Michael. Unfortunately he crashed during the stage and suffered abrasions. Because of the crash he didn’t feel so good in the sprint. He wasn’t in a perfect position in the last corner and so the 10th place was the maximum possible today", says Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director of BORA – ARGON 18. 

"With Emanuel [Buchmann], Dominik [Nerz] and Patrick [Konrad] we have three riders who have their qualities in the mountains. We’ll ride for all three guys tomorrow. It’s likely that many teams will not invest too much energy until the final climb. The best climbers will prevail on the challenging mountain and our guys will look for their chances. With gradients of up to 11% it depends of course on the daily form and how one copes with the extreme heat", Poitschke looks ahead.