Australian cycling superstar Caleb Ewan will never have a closer finish to a stage – or a tighter defeat – than the one he suffered overnight at the first stage of the UAE Tour.
The Lotto Dstny rider was pipped to the line by the millimetres by Soudal-Quickstep’s Belgian rider Tim Merlier in a thrilling sprint finish.
The two riders finished shoulder to shoulder prompting a 10-minute delay as the race organisers pored over the photo finish in a bid to split them.
They opted against calling it a dead heat and gave Merlier, 30, the win by the slimmest of margins.
Ewan had raised his hand in celebration after crossing the line, and took to social media to jokingly write: “when in doubt claim it … Doesn’t get much closer than this”.
The official finish-line photograph used to decide the winner was later revealed by organisers – and it shows just how ridiculously close things were.
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“I was not sure,” Merlier said afterwards.
“I know I did a good jump in the end, and I knew when I started my sprint that it was a good sprint.
“But Caleb was coming from the wheel and you know he’s a dangerous guy if he is in the wheel. In the end it was really close.”
“But what can I say about it …? I wouldn’t do anything different, really,” said Ewan in a team media release. “I was almost fast enough but apparently not quite enough.”
Ewan added: “Obviously, it’s disappointing to miss out on the stage win with such a narrow margin. But the main thing to take away is the fact that I was up there, which shows the good form I’m in and it’s only promising for the next sprint stages this week.”
Ewan had suffered a puncture at a terribly unfortunate time early in the stage and battled his back to have a chance at victory.
Astana Qazaqstan Team’s Mark Cavendish was third after a windy ride of 151km on the United Arab Emirates’ northern coast.
It was a poor day for home side UAE Emirates as their team leader, the newly signed Adam Yates, had his chances of winning slip away in a cross wind.
Instead Merlier’s teammate and compatriot Remco Evenepoel is now hot favourite to win this Tour after his power led an attack that dropped the entire peloton to 51sec.
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A forlorn-looking Yates blamed the desert wind.
“We were actually the only guys in front which means we had to use a little bit more energy fighting for position and fighting the wind. In the end, we didn’t have the legs,” said Yates after other teams refused to join the bid to catch up.
Evenepoel is both world champion and Vuelta a Espana titleholder and is sixth overall, thanks to 51sec plus a bonus after finishing eighth on the day.
“That was a windy and good start of the week here,” said Evenepoel. “Strong teamwork finished off by @MerlierTim!
“Focus on tomorrow’s TTT,” he added before Tuesday’s second of seven stages, referring to the team time trial over 17.2km up the coast in Khalifa Port.
UAE Team Emirates’ double Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar is sitting out his outfit’s home event.
The 24-year-old Slovenian chose instead to start his season by winning the Vuelta a Andalucia at the weekend
