Preview. The UAE Tour is a luxurious race for the sprinters and on stage 6 they will have their final opportunity to succeed. Tim Merlier, Juan Sebastián Molano and Dylan Groenewegen have won so far, will we have a fourth winner?
Stage six will be another opportunity for the fast men, and the final one. This time around the peloton will be racing around the cities in Abu Dhabi, in a fourth day that features no climbing whatsoever and delivers the sprinters another well deserved opportunity to succeed.
Start Time: 09:40CET
Finish Time: 13:30CET
The finale here into Doha is not unknown and it's a fairly simple one. No technical features at all are included within the final 1.5 kilometers, it's a simple and straight finale where the leadouts will be raising the speed in incredibly high fashion before the fast men launch their bid for victory.
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The Weather
Strong wind from the south. This is dangerous, early in the day all riders have to be on their maximum attention. In the final kilometers again there will be crosswinds but not as exposed, with a tailwind finale that will be incredibly fast. All GC riders have to be on their absolute maximum attention, specially right before the queen stage.
The Favourites
A roulette, that is how you can call this stage as well. Three sprint winners so far, all of them riders who have barely been present in any of the other sprints. Positioning is key and having luck to follow the right wheels is too. At the UAE Tour it frequently is the case, there are no overwhelming favourites. Let's take another look back at which leadouts we have present here:
Sam Bennett - Danny van Poppel - Shane Archbold - Ryan Mullen - Patrick Gamper
Tim Merlier - Bert van Lerberghe - Mauro Schmid - Josef Cerny
Dylan Groenewegen - Luka Mezgec - Blake Quick - Michael Hepburn
Arnaud Démare - Bram Welten - Laurence Pithie
Caleb Ewan - Jacopo Guarnieri - Rüdiger Selig - Michael Schwarzmann - Jarrad Drizners
Fernando Gaviria - Albert Torres
Phil Bauhaus - Nikias Arndt - Johan Price-Pejtersen
Gerben Thijssen - Boy van Poppel - Julius Johansen
Olav Kooij - Tosh van der Sande - TImo Roosen
Mark Cavendish - Cees Bol
Sam Welsford - Niklas Märkl - Alex Edmonson
But as you've seen, leadouts actually mean little here. Stage 4 perfectly showed how relying on teammates ended up blocking their leaders from the best position. There it was Juan Sebastián Molano take the win, whilst the likes of Arvid de Kleijn and Emils Liepins have also been up there quite well. Elia Viviani, Itamar Einhorn and Marijn van den Berg will also be worthy to keep under eye.
In addition to that, crosswinds are quite possible tomorrow, and the chances that some will not be able to fight for victory are also quite real, adding another variable to the mix.
Prediction UAE Tour 2023 stage 6:
*** Tim Merlier, Sam Bennett, Dylan Groenewegen
** Fernando Gaviria, Sam Welsford, Olav Kooij
* Arnaud Démare, Caleb Ewan, Phil Bauhaus, Gerben Thijssen, Mark Cavendish, Juan Sebastián Molano
Pick: Tim Merlier
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