The opening stage of the UAE Tour saw a huge crash in the final kilometre, with several riders hitting the deck, some cannoning into the barriers, and their bikes flipping into the air.
Ryan Mullen (Bora-Hansgrohe) appeared to be the first rider to go down after completing his lead-out when riders behind him were frantically fighting to get in position for the sprint, including Lotto Dstny's sprinter Jarne Van de Paar.
Van de Paar was squeezed by riders on his outside and collided with the Irishman as he was dropping back through the peloton. Mullen's arm was knocked and caused him to crash, taking down one of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s riders by accident and sending a domino effect across the road, which caused a further 15 or so riders to crash.
Mullen later sarcastically wrote, "Always fun when this happens" on his Instagram story after the stage.
Worst affected was Cofidis’ Milan Fretin, who was launched into the barriers shoulder-first as Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) was taken down by the ripple effect into the young Belgian’s path. Tejada was pictured after the stage with a heavily ripped jersey and different points of road rash across his back and elbow.
The Colombian did finish the stage, but only while sitting on the top tube of teammate Michele Gazzoli’s bike as he held onto his own with his left hand.
“There was a lot of tension in the last kilometres in the main group. Inside the last kilometre, I was in front, and a rider from Bora [Mullen] fell down just in front of me, and I crashed as well,” said a more upbeat Tejada on Astana’s social media.
“The main thing is I have nothing broken, and I hope to recover to be able to ride for the GC.”
Fretin was seen being put onto a stretcher after the crash and visibly in pain, but thankfully posted a later update to his Instagram story saying "Sad to leave the UAE Tour after one day but happy that I got away with just a dislocated shoulder.
He won't start stage 2 and neither will GC hope Eddie Dunbar. The Irishman was shown receiving treatment for his hand after the stage with Jayco AlUla revealing this morning that he suffered a hand fracture.
Dunbar suffered a similar fracture to his hand at the start of his 2023 season after crashing at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, which put him out of competition for two months. He had been coming to a stop in the mass incident when a rider behind him collided with him.
On the other side of the road, both Hungarian national champion Atilla Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) seemed worst affected as they flipped over their handlebars and onto their backs.
Thankfully, subsequent updates from the teams suggest the pair weren’t as badly injured as they could have been in such a high-speed incident.
"Attila got involved and is somewhat battered at the moment. At first glance, the damage doesn't seem to be too bad,” said Visma-Lease a Bike coach Maarten Wynants, on the team’s website.
“We are happy that for now, it looks like he can continue his way.”
Viviani would’ve been one of the contenders to sprint against eventual winner Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), but after being cleared of anything serious, he should have three more chances at flat finishes on stages 4, 5 and 6.
“We're very happy to confirm that Elia Viviani was able to finish the opening stage of UAE Tour despite crashing in the final metres,” said the British team.
“After checks from our medical team, the Italian has been treated for cuts and bruises. We're sending our best wishes to everyone else caught in the pile-up.”
Young GC hope Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) was caught in the crash alongside teammate Timo Roosen, but as was the same for Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates), they thankfully only suffered cuts and abrasions.
Le beau geste de Michele Gazzoli qui aide son coéquipier Harold Tejada a franchir la ligne d'arrivée de la première étape de l'UAE Tour après une lourde chute 🙌#LesRP pic.twitter.com/xLBpLnur1tFebruary 19, 2024
