It was a short stage for the second day of the Abu Dhabi Tour. The group covered 130 km from the start at Yas Marina Circuit to the finish at Yas Mall in 3h02'37". Viviani obtained the victory at the end of a bunch sprint.

LAMPRE-MERIDA took into account the planned alternance of the fast riders of the team and so Davide Cimolai was the blue-fuchsia-green captain in the sprint. The winner of two races in 2015 succeeded in reaching the front of the bunch in the final kilometer, but he could not overtake the riders in front of him when the speed was raised in the final 300 meters. Cimolai reached the finish in 11th position.

In the overall classification, Ulissi is 35th at 10".

"In the first two sprints we did not achieve the results that the skills of our athletes made possible," sports director Mario Scirea commented. "It's important to point out that Cimolai did not give up until the finish line, it's not so simple to sprint on these very large roads which allow the bunch to reach very high speeds.

"Tomorrow the race will change and it will be the climbers's turn: Ulissi has ambitions for a good result, everything will depend on the energy in his legs."