Lampre-Merida played a prominent role in the first stage of the Dubai Tour thanks to Spanish rider Rafael Valls who joined a breakaway of 4 riders (Lefrancois, Gusev, Bazzana and Battaglin) after 5km in the race.

Despite the flat course, they could resist until 20km remained when the sprinters team upped the pace and neutralized the move.

Lampre-Merida gave Cimolai good support to allow him to ride in the front positions but the Italian rider could not get into the top 10. In the bunch sprint, Cimolai was 15th.

"The team did a great job to get me into the top positions. Pozzato led me to the head of the group," said Cimolai. "I knew that today would be a tough day, I always suffer a bit the first stages. The sprint was suited to really powerful riders and I was not at my best. However, as of tomorrow I'm sure things will get better ."

Taiwanese Chun Kai Feng was excited to have made his debut with the team: " Today was a special day, one of those races to remember forever. It 'a great point in my career and I want to give my best for Lampre-MERIDA.  My job was to support my teammates, I seemed to be able to do it well enough."

"Valls had the task of joining breaks of more than three riders, and so he did, it was very good," sports director Marco Marzano said. "His presence allowed us to take it easy in the group and to focus on the sprint, in which we aimed to get at a top ten 10 result."