Final KM: Dubai Tour St2, Herald Sun Tour ITT, Etoile de Bessèges St1, Volta Valenciana St1

Four races, two time trials and two sprint finishes. SO MUCH ACTION – lets get down to it..

Dubai Tour Stage 2: Dubai to Ras al Khaimah, 188km

Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) had to wait and wait, but once he lit the afterburners no one could match his pace and power. LottoNL-Jumbo’s Dylan Groenewegen was second after leading the sprint out on the long run in. Jakub Marezcko (Willier-Southest) won the battle for Kittel’s wheel and cruised to third. Kittel remains in the leader’s jersey by 8secs from Groenewegen.

Highlights from the Global Cycling Network team…Look out for VeloVoices favourite Quickstepper Bob Jungels, he is a BEAST

That podium is coming – we can feel it #GoDegs

#DejaVu? 4th place again for @johndegenkolb. #dubaitour Report and photos to come later. pic.twitter.com/yRO3eSa5PY

— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) February 1, 2017

Full report at Cycling News.

Race Website Race Twitter #DubaiTour

Jayco Herald Sun Tour: Melbourne, prologue, 2.1km

Danny van Poppel (Sky) stormed around the short prologue course in a time probably faster than it took to get into his skinsuit! JLT Condor’s Aussie duo Brenton Jones and Alex Frame both got within 0.01secs of the winner to finish second and third respectively. Chris Froome (Sky) finished 7secs adrift with Esteban Chaves at +11secs. The race favourites are expected to battle it out on the queen stage tomorrow.

Full video available on SBS Cycling Central website

Lung-busting effort – and a course record to boot.

REPORT: Get the reaction of @Dannyvanpoppel as he picked up our first win of the year at #SunTour

📰 > https://t.co/ZJRgqttxoY pic.twitter.com/2SNkCdwyWP

— Team Sky 🚲 (@TeamSky) February 1, 2017

Full report at Cycling News.

Race Website Race Twitter #SunTour

Etoile de Bessèges Stage 1: Bellgard to Beaucaire, 158.4km

FDJ’s new look sprint train put all their off season training into good use as they delivered Arnaud Demare to the line in the prefect position. The Frenchman easily out-sprinted Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) with WB Veranclassic’s Roy Jans in third.

Highlights…

Arnaud Démare's win in the Etoile de Bessèges via local TV news, starts at 1m40s https://t.co/w7R3AisTvE Includes podium accordion music

— the Inner Ring (@inrng) February 1, 2017

Full flow FDJ…

💪🏻 @mickaeldelage à plat ventre pour les siens, belle image ! #EtoiledeBesseges pic.twitter.com/941OT4u98E

— Equipe FDJ (@EquipeFDJ) February 1, 2017

Full report at Cycling News.

Race Website Race Twitter #EtoiledeBesseges

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Stage 1: Orihuela to Orihuela, TTT 37.9km

The Spanish stage race kicked off with a monster of a team time trial, a real shock for riders at the start of the year #OUCH. BMC powered through the saw-toothed parcours in a slick display of synchronicity that saw them take the top step of the podium. Sky ran them close at +21secs, with Quick-Step Floors in third (+49secs). With a top 10 separated by 2mins, some teams are already looking at stage wins rather than the GC.

Video highlights… Haven’t tracked any down yet #StayAlert

First BMC rider over the line was Manuel Senni – your new race leader. (I’m still not sure about those skinsuits)

👌! @GregVanAvermaet congratulates Manuel Senni on taking the 1st leaders jersey of his career at #VCV2017! #Ride_BMC #DontCrackUnderPressure pic.twitter.com/qpbtelJbLJ

— BMC Racing Team (@BMCProTeam) February 1, 2017

Full report at Cycling News.

Race Website Race Twitter #VCV2017