VIDEOS | 3 crashes in 5 minutes... Not even stage winner Tim Merlier can avoid string of falls at fast UAE Tour finale
Cycling
The UAE Tour is one of the races in the UCI calendar that has the most straightforward and least technical roads. But on the day where the men's peloton marks 1 month to the start of the season, we've had two more mass crashes on the approach to the sprints. Not just that, but even stage winner Tim Merlier won after sprinting to victory.
It is a tough reality that the modern peloton has to live with, as now every week there is at least one mid-sprint mass crash. Many races have seen such occurrences, and at the recent Volta ao Algarve the peloton had an even more shocking incident in which the peloton entered an open road and sprinted without a finish line ahead - as the rider steered off course.
2025 is being a special year, but at times not for the best reasons. On a day where Tadej Pogacar joined the day's breakaway, the UAE Tour had it's fair share of excitement, but the most dramatic moments were yet to come. With just over 3 kilometers to go some of the race's main GC contenders such as Carlos Rodríguez, Felix Gall and Pablo Castrillo were involved in a high-speed crash which caused them to lose time.
Then, on the final corner with around 500 meters to go, the peloton saw yet another group of riders come down. Fernando Gaviria was one of them, and it completely split the peloton only seconds away from the final sprint, won by Tim Merlier.
But not even the Belgian could avoid the day's incidents. After sprinting to victory, the Soudal - Quick-Step rider collided with a staff member and although it was a low speed, also hit the deck. It marked the ending of a dramatic day which the peloton and spectators will surely not forget soon.
You can check the videos below:
😳🇪🇺 ¡𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐎! ¡Caídas hasta después de meta!
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) February 21, 2025
El ganador de este viernes en el #UAETour, Tim Merlier, besa el suelo sin consecuencias tras cruzar la llegada 🥴#LaCasaDelCiclismo pic.twitter.com/tHvB3NiZCq
🫣💨 Merlier se toma revancha ante Milan en 𝐔𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐀Ó𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐎 en el #UAETour
— Eurosport.es (@Eurosport_ES) February 21, 2025
Nuevas caídas -como la de Castrillo y Rodríguez a 4 km de meta- antes de una llegada en Dubai donde el campeón de Europa al fin se impuso#LaCasaDelCiclismo pic.twitter.com/ivC2OXjTuR
#UAETour 🇦🇪 / Chute dans le peloton, à plus de 3km de l’arrivée ! 🇪🇸 Pablo Castrillo (MOV) et 🇪🇸 Carlos Rodriguez (IGD) sont allés au sol. pic.twitter.com/i6Q6Ozywh6
— Renaud Breban (@RenaudB31) February 21, 2025
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- It will be interesting to see how he goes on the cobbles, so far he's looking very strong.awp04-04-2025
- if there is an actual weakness in wout even when completely healthy, it’s that he’s in his head too often. this has been pointed out many times by much more acute observers of cycling than ME, certainly. it may be that he’s been like this since he was a little kid. we are who we are. or that he was shaped by having faced van der poel SOOO many times. mvdp has zero second thoughts. he wastes no time at all on doubt. that has, in the past, led him to do some pretty insane things and make mistakes that wout would never have committed. but it also makes him a killer. you can see wout’s split seconds of doubt and hesitation everywhere in their head to head battles. those hesitations spill over into other races at times like dwars, when doubt creeps in. i believe that currently he is still coming back from physical problems due to injuries, but even when he’s full strength the mental game is an area of potential concern, AND potential improvement.OCexile03-04-2025
- Not only the public, just about every analyst and commentator had been piling it on. Under the circumstances I’d even say he’s showing real character. Not sure likeable Tadej would manage as well during a longer rough patch.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Took a while but we finally have a more nuanced analysis.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- If I remember right, it was those same hungry journalists selling us a different story less than a year ago about the bleak future of Dutch (men’s) cycling with no possible successor for MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Good, hopefully Jonas goes also so we get a nice duelvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- right? i think it’s hungry journalists that fuel this, and i understand the jam they can be in trying to create stories, but you’d hate to think ANYONE is failing to appreciate how RARE someone like van der poel is (or how LUCKY we are to have both mvdp and pog racing at the same time). a little perspective is a good thing…OCexile03-04-2025
- Anyone know how long that 213km ride took? Coz without that the segment speeds don’t reveal anything surprising. If it took him Less than 5h ok but otherwise it was just some interval training for him.Jumpyjohn03-04-2025
- Hinault was even lighter than Pog at 62 kg when he won PR in 1981, beating Roger van Vlaeminck no less (albeit at the fag end of the latter's career), so it can be done.Cooldude03-04-2025
- Having to shoulder too much pressure from the Belgain public too much that he made a tactical mistake. That's what public pressure does to you. Poor Wout! Hopefully, lady luck befalls him soon.
KerisVroom03-04-2025