All the fun of echelon-laden desert racing, a victory for Rui Costa and a gutsy ride from Heinrich Haussler – we’re turning the clock back at the inaugural Saudi Tour.

Stage 1, Saudi Tour

The first stage delivered the long straight roads and wind-driven echelons cycling fans expect of desert racing, and finished it with a uphill drive for the line that wouldn’t be out of place in Belgium. After some echelon excitement that left riders in groups all over the road, four riders went clear with 25km to go.

Bahrain-McLaren’s Heinrich Haussler led the way onto the final climb and for a glorious moment I thought victory would be his, but he was caught in sight of the line by the chasing pack. UAE Team-Emirate’s Rui Costa (remember him?!) popped up to snatch victory from Haussler, with Nacer Bouhanni (remember him?!) rounding out the podium for Team Arkea Samsic. Not at all bad for the first stage of this brand new race.

It was good to see these two back at the sharp end of a race

Look who’s back

and he’s been missed

Bahrain-McLaren forced the pace at the front and contributed to the echelon chaos. Here’s the Manx Missile himself

GC and Jerseys

 

Race Website  @thesauditour  #SaudiTour

Header image: ©Stuart Franklin/Getty Images