Jasper Philipsen took an impressive sprint victory in stage one of the UAE Tour 2022. The Alpecin-FENIX Belgian rider crossed first the finish line in 4 hours 42 minutes and 34 seconds and an average speed of 39 Km/h ahead of Sam Bennett (BORA – Hansgrohe) and Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers).
The Al Ain Water stage was 184 kilometers long, starting and ending in Madinat Zayed, the largest town of Al Gharbia desert region. The UAE Tour is the first race of 2022 World Tour.
“It was a pretty fast finish and we could see the line from very far away. We managed to make our way to the front and go for the sprint,” Philipsen said in an interview after the race while wearing the leader’s red jersey. “This morning I was not confident at all and this was the first race of the season for me. It’s a really nice feeling to win against such a big list of top sprinters.”
Congratulation to Jasper and to the entire Alpecin-FENIX team: the 2022 World Tour started in the best possible way.
