Al Shindagha / Dubai Harbour 173.9km

The first of the big sprint battles. Most of the stage will be boring, but the finale will be fun.

Weather

Not as hot as previous days, but still hot by Scottish standards. There shouldn’t be too much wind around.

Finale

Wide road, arrow straight, final bend with 700m to go. Headwind sprint.

Tactics

QuickStep are in control of the race, and even though they’ve won two out of three stages, they’ll want more. They’ll take control of what’s likely to be a weak break, before getting some help from the other sprint teams. This is a nailed-on sprint, and it should be a great battle between most of the fastest riders in the world.

Contenders

QuickStep  

Sprint train – Černy, Van Lerberghe (***)

Sprinter – Tim Merlier (*****)

Lotto 

Sprint train – Drizners, Selig, Guarnieri (***)

Sprinter – Caleb Ewan (*****)

FDJ 

Sprint train – Konovalovas, Pithie, Welten (***)

Sprinter – Arnaud Démare (***)

Jayco

Sprint train – Scotson, Quick, Reinders, Mezgec (****)

Sprinter – Dylan Groenewegen (*****)

Bora 

Sprint train – Archbold, Mullen, Danny van Poppel (*****)

Sprinter – Sam Bennett (*****)

Jumbo-Visma

Sprint train – Hessmann, Roosen, Van Der Sande (***)

Sprinter – Olav Kooij (****)

Bahrain

Sprint train – Govekar, Arndt (**)

Sprinter – Phil Bauhaus (***)

Astana 

Sprint train – Bol (**)

Sprinter – Mark Cavendish (***)

DSM 

Sprint train – Edmondson, Markl (**)

Sprinter – Sam Welsford (****)

Movistar 

Sprint train – Hollmann, Torres (*)

Sprinter – Fernando Gaviria (***)

Ineos

Sprint train – Tarling, Swift, Heiduk (***)

Sprinter – Elia Viviani (**)

Intermarché

Sprint train – Johansen, Boy van Poppel (***)

Sprinter – Gerben Thijssen (***)

Prediction Time

Embed from Getty Images

I’ll take a win for Sam Bennett.