The National's Sport cover for the Saturday, October 10 issue, featuring Stage 2 of the Abu Dhabi Tour.
Team Sky stalwart Elia Viviani took the second stage and the overall lead to wear the red jersey for Saturday's crucial Jebel Hafeet climb. Osman Samiuddin writes it was a fitting result for the Italian:
“Elia Viviani has recent form in upstaging more renowned riders.
“In September, during the Tour of Britain, he upended a widely anticipated battle between Mark Cavendish and the German Andre Greipel, out-sprinting both while they were busy dealing with each other in the opening stage.
“On the second stage of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour, while eyes were elsewhere, he powered past the world champion Peter Sagan at the death in another compelling sprint finish.
“Viviani got in behind Peter Sagan as the sprint opened up and then sped round him to go through for an impressive eighth win of the season, including a stage win at Dubai.
“That is already an impressive return on the investment of Team Sky, whom he joined this year.”
Said Viviani:
“I am riding strongly in this final part of the season, and the support from my team has been excellent. Yesterday, the team worked all day, but I lost position on the final corner and I had to make up too much ground to make the top three.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE