Alessandro Tonelli rues agressive racing as he misses out on unimaginable stage win at UAE Tour

Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè have had a wildcard to the UAE Tour and have been a constant presence in the day's breakaway, seizing the TV exposure that came along with the race's World Tour status. No-one would've predicted the Italian team would be within a shot of winning the sixth stage of the race however that was the case, but Alessandro Tonelli lacked the legs in the final sprint.

“Unfortunately at the end of my legs after 3 days of breakaway they said no in the final sprint, so at the same time I have some regrets, but I also keep close to a fourth place in a World Tour race that is moral. At minus 40 km we gradually started to accelerate, pulling hard and the last 20km with a favorable wind we went away at 60/70 hours and behind them they could not reach us," Tonelli said in a post-race interview.

Although a breakaway win was never to be expected from today's stage at the UAE Tour, Bardiani have placed two riders in front with Tonelli and teammate Johnatan Cañaveral making it to the front group. After being in the breakaway in stages one and four, Tonelli find himself once again in the head of the race, but he regrets having created so much fatigue in the days previous, which would've been crucial today.

The breakaway collaborated perfectly and Tonelli was in the group that went to fight for the stage win, but lacked the legs in the sprint and came home in fourth place behind stage winner Mathias Vacek.

"In the sprint I am not fast and against three opponents all from the same team it was not easy, I tried but congratulations to the winner. A fourth place that gives me morale for the next races," he added.

If he had succeeded this would have been the Italian's second win as a professional, after a win in the 2018 Cro Race. It is unclear where he will return to competition but with Bardiani having a stacked Italian calendar now in March, and a possible Giro d'Italia presence in May, the Italian will be keen to keep showing his form in order to keep targeting breakaways at World Tour level.