Jake Latham
The Dubai Tour wrapped up over the weekend with Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quick Step) taking the General Classification win after the four-stage race in the United Arab Emirates.
On the final stage of the race Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) wore the yellow leaders jersey with only a 2-second advantage over Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and 6-seconds on Kittel but Nizzolo admitted his team was not in the right place in the final kilometer to the finish for him to hold onto his overall lead.
Earlier on in the week though, Australian Michael Rogers (Tinkoff) made a short season debut after a congenital heart defect forced him to abandon the race on Friday.
He sent a tweet on Friday that said he would not be starting the third stage.
No start for me this morning at Dubai Tour. My heart data from stage 2 shows I’m not yet ready to compete at such a high level. #stepbystep.
— Michael Rogers (@mickrogers) February 5, 2016
The heart defect has been stable until now and known as a congenital bicuspid aortic valve. The valve is crucial to cardiac output as it keeps blood flowing in one direction between the two heart chambers but a small amount of blood escapes back into the left ventricle and the back up makes the heart work harder and can cause fatigue and heart murmurs.
This condition has already caused him to miss the Tour Down Under this year to undergo further examinations but the 36-year-old told website Cyclingnews last week that he wants to have one last crack at the Tour de France before he calls it quits on the Pro-peloton. For now however, the veteran of the sport has been put back on a moderate intensity training program after turning pro 16 years ago.
