Stage 2 - Abu Dhabi Tour

It never ceases to amaze me what we go through and how hard BMC Racing Team fights for a race to just come back together in the end.

Stage 2 of the Abu Dhabi Tour was the perfect example of cycling being a sport that's all about timing and opportunity. You risk losing it all if you aren’t there but it doesn’t necessarily mean you gained anything when the day is done.

Compared to the opening stage, today was “game on” racing. The wind was whipping up and we had many more directional changes, which kept everyone more alert. About 50 kilometers to go, it appeared everyone got the memo that there was a good chance for some crosswind madness so after doing an “out and back” on a man-made peninsula into the ocean, we bombed into a crucial corner at over 60 km/hour and almost immediately everything was blown to pieces.

We were a bit caught out in the position fight and found ourselves quite far back. I put in an effort to move Rohan up as much as possible and he had the legs from there to get into the first split.

Behind, we continued to battle the wind and groups continued to split. Eventually, we turned into more of a tailwind and things calmed down, which saw a significant regrouping of basically the entire peloton as we headed to the final sprint.

Photos potentially later....?