Cycling news - Fernando Gaviria wins chaotic sprint on UAE debut to take opening San Juan stage

In the final metres of the race a number of teams were leaving it late with Bora in particular holding off despite having both Peter Sagan and Sam Bennett in position.

Eventually Sagan attacked by Bennett couldn’t follow, as it seemed the idea was for the former to lead out for the Irishman given Sagan arrived a day later than the rest of the team.

Sagan did his job but Bennett was nowhere to be seen in a fairly messy ending to the race for Bora, finishing third behind the winner and Matteo Malucelli in second.

While that was going out UAE Team Emirates had put Gaviria in position further across the wide road and the Colombian powered past the pack to secure victory, his first for his new team.

The gap between the breakaway and the rest of the pack fluctuated between 15 and 40 seconds in the final 20km but they were pulled in before the final few kilometres.

The final stretch was both straight and flat, perfect for the sprinters who were set up well by their teams and it was Gaviria who took advantage.

The 2013 winner Daniel Zamora took the maximum points on both of the climbs to take six points and the lead in the King of the Mountains classification. He will wear that jersey going into Stage 2 on Monday.

Starting later due to the intense heat at this time of the year the race didn’t finish until close to 20:00 local time.