UAE Tour: Olav Kooij ends Tim Merlier's sprint dominance in photo-finish sprint on stage 5

Olav Kooij won stage 5 of the UAE Tour, his second triumph of the season. It was a photo-finish sprint against TIm Merlier and Sam Welsford, but the Dutchman proved to be the fastest to the line.

Another calm day for the peloton, riders could essentially choose who wanted to go on to the breakaway or not. Lotto Dstny with no reservation launched their GC rider Lennert van Eetvelt into the front of the race to grab bonus seconds. he took six seconds almost efffortlessly as the desert ride proved quite slow and calm.

He was joined by teammate Harm Vanhoucke, and following the two intermediate sprints they waited for the peloton. Their breakaway companion Jacopo Mosca of Lidl-Trek hence stayed in the head of the race by himself. He didn't make the effort to stay away until as late as possible however and was reeled in with 40 kilometers to go.

Then a slow acceleration would take place ahead of the final sprint. It was another furious leadout fight which proved to be hectic towards the finale. Michael Morkov led out Mark Cavendish but the Manxman then cracked too early. Tim Merlier and Sam Welsford moved through the left side of the road, Olav Kooij came off the right side late on.

The victory was decided in a photo finish but ultimately the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider was named stage winner. Kooij very narrowly beat Merlier in the final sprint, with Sam Weslford also coming in a very close third place.