Two separate UnitedHealtcare squads completed successful stage race campaigns over the weekend, as the Dubai Tour came to a close on Saturday in the United Arab Emirates, and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour concluded on Sunday, just more than 10,000km away in Australia.

The highlight of the teams’ efforts was certainly Alessandro Bazzana’s overall win in the Intermediate Sprint Classification in Dubai. The contest itself was almost tailor-made for UnitedHealthcare’s racing style, in which they’d much prefer to make the race, rather than wait for it to come to them. Committed to animating the action by putting riders in the break each day, the UnitedHealthcare squad actually had two riders at the head of the Intermediate sprint competition, Bazzana and Davide Frattini, both of whom wore the classification leader’s jersey at different points in the race, with Frattini ultimately finishing third overall in the contest, behind Bazzana’s winning effort. Marco Canola finished fourth.

In addition to success in the Intermediate Sprint Competition, the team found success in the individual General Classification, placing Marco Canola and Alessandro Bazzana into 5th and 6th positions overall at the conclusion of the four days of racing. UnitedHealthcare riders occupied the 5th, 10th and 12th positions in the Points Competition and, reflecting their efforts in the event, the UnitedHealthcare team took second place in the Team General Classification.

Team Director in Dubai, Roberto Damiani lauded his team’s effort, “I am proud of the work we did together in this event. The level of the racing is very high, and the team worked together to compete with some of the best riders and organizations in the world. With this mentality and work style, we can be confident of even better results in the future.”

Meanwhile, in Australia, another contingent from the UnitedHealthcare team fought to the finish of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Similar to the efforts of the squad in Dubai, the team in Australia featured solid results from several riders during the event with US National Criterium Champion, John Murphy, twice finishing in the top five in sprint finishes. Newcomer to the UnitedHealthcare team, Tanner Putt, himself a U23 US National Champion on the road, placed fourth overall in the King of the Mountains competition. The UnitedHealthcare team’s well-rounded effort, including consistent performances from Chris Jones, Lucas Euser and Danny Summerhill, netted them third place overall on the Team General Classification as the event concluded.