Friday’s stage 5 of the 2023 UAE Tour was a 170-kilometer flat stage from Al Marjan Island to Umm al Quwain. A stage profile that suited the sprinters perfectly on paper and even more so on the day thanks to the complete absence of threatening winds that could have caused splits in the peloton and echelons being formed.

It took more than 50 kilometers of racing before a breakaway group managed to form. The attacking riders initiated their attempt in order to gain valuable time bonuses in the first intermediate sprint of the stage. Following the intermediate sprint only Thomas de Gendt charged on in solo fashion with the other breakaway participants falling back to the main peloton. De Gendt was caught by the main peloton approximately 20 kilometers from the finish.

The stage action culminated in a fierce battle between the sprinter teams who had gathered all their energy and forces to produce the best possible sprint trains to support their respective team leaders in the stage finale.

The stage was won by 29-year-old Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-Alula), who delivered the most powerful sprint across the finish line after biding his time before launching down the left-hand side of the wide finishing straight. Groenewegen was closely followed by Fernando Gaviria (Team Movistar) and Sam Bennett (Team Bora-Hansgrohe). Yesterday’s stage winner Juan Sebastian Molano finished seventh for his UAE Emirates Team and former World Champion Mark Cavendish (Team Astana-Qazaqstan) was eighth.

“It was a hard one, it was really difficult to have good timing in the final and during the stage there was a little bit of wind, but not enough to split the peloton,” Groenewegen told Roadcycling.com following the stage. “I was a little bit far back in the run in to the sprint, but my teammates found me and we got in a good position with three kilometers to go. They gave me a very good lead out and this is a nice win.”

“In the final, there were roundabouts and crosswinds and I told my teammates we needed to move to the right into the wind and make some space for each other.”

“It was a really good win for us. We knew the last roundabout and the guys put me in a really good position there. I saw Sam Bennet had a small gap, so I went in the slipstream and in that moment I was thinking now I start my sprint. It was a really long one but enough.”

In the general classification Remco Evenepoel remains leader following today’s stage. Evenepoel increased his lead in the overall rankings by two seconds after gaining bonification seconds in today’s stage when contesting an intermediate sprint. Evenepoel is now nine seconds ahead of Ineos-Grenadiers’ Luke Plapp and thirteen seconds ahead of Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious).

Saturday’s stage 6 of the 2023 UAE Tour is a 166-kilometer stage from W.B. World Abu Dhabi to Abu Dhabi Breakwater. The stage is completely flat and thus a delicate treat on the race menu for the sprinter teams. Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for UAE Tour coverage.