Riders aren’t used to race every day in the desert and to cope with temperatures reaching 42 degrees, but this was the scenario Team Colombia-Coldeportes faced in stage one of the first ever edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour.

The stage went from Qasr Al Sarab – Madinat Zayed and was cut short to 159,5 km, after the organizers have decided to cancel the final circuit due to the extreme heat. The script called for a sprint, and a bunch sprint it was in the end: Andrea Guardini (Astana) won the stage and took the leader’s jersey, ahead of Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step) and Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo).

Among a number of big guns, in a sprint launched by new World Champion Peter Sagan, Edwin Avila got to make himself noticed: the former points race world champion finished sixth, after entering the last curve in a very good position and managing to hold off Elia Viviani (Team Sky).

The sprint was over in a blink of an eye, after a day during which the main difficulty was posed by the high temperatures, this situation eventually leading to a low average speed, of just 34 km/h. All six riders of the only South American team at the start came in the same time as the winner.

Tomorrow, the second stage will see the riders go on a circuit starting and finishing in Abu Dhabi, after 130 kilometers.

The Escarabajos scored another top 10 on Thursday, this time in Italy, where Leonardo Duque came eight in Coppa Sabatini (Peccioli-Peccioli, 197 km), a race won by the Spaniard Eduard Prades (Caja Rural). Guided by Valerio Tebaldi from the team car, the squad pulled at the front in the second half of the day to reel in the three riders in the escape – Zilioli (Androni), Van Overberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Cam (Bretagne) – before launching Leonardo Duque near the finale. Besides him, abother two Colombia-Coldeportes riders – Miguel Angel Rubiano and Rodolfo Torres – finished in the first group of around 50 riders.

“Today, Leonardo was our main card and we put our faith in him, trying to bring him in the best possible position before the closing kilometers,” Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi said. “We want to make the most out of the final events of the season, giving it all race after race, and we will continue to do so on Saturday and Sunday, in the Giro dell’Emilia and Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli.”