Bad luck continues for UAE as Jan Christen receives time penalty in opening stage AlUla Tour

Across a frantic few days in Australia, UAE were caught up in a string of incidents. Vine’s was the most bizarre: the Australian went down after a kangaroo jumped into the peloton. He still finished the stage and later won the overall classification, but it subsequently emerged he had suffered a wrist fracture, requiring surgery.

Teammate Mikkel Bjerg also hit the ground in the same incident and was forced to abandon. UAE’s sprint option Juan Sebastián Molano also failed to finish, while in the end only Adam Yates and Ivo Oliveira joined Vine at the finish of the Tour Down Under finale.

A different UAE squad began the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, but misfortune travelled with them. Christen — the team’s leader for the race and one of the favourites for the overall — crashed twice in the opening stage. The Swiss rider was able to continue, but had to chase back after losing significant time.

With echelons ripping the bunch apart in the desert winds, that chase was anything but straightforward. With support from teammates — and some help from the slipstream of the team car — Christen did manage to return. He crossed the line 24th, 11 seconds down on stage winner Jonathan Milan, and it initially looked like the damage had been limited.

However, the organisers later intervened: Christen was given a 20-second time penalty, leaving him 41 seconds behind race leader Milan in the general classification. Because most of the other GC contenders finished in the same group as Christen, the UAE rider effectively needs to claw back those 20 seconds on his direct rivals over the coming days — and the stages ahead should offer opportunities to do exactly that.