Danny van Poppel has done well in the second stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour. The sprinter became second in the stage to Yas Beach and moved up to the third place in the general classification. He’s now four seconds behind leader Elia Viviani, who won today’s stage.

The first thing Van Poppel did after he had crossed the finish line was thank his team. “I really wanted to finish their good work, but Viviani is the man to be beat right now. I don’t think it's a shame to come in second behind him.”

For a while, it looked like Van Poppel wouldn’t get any competition from the Italian. In the last hour, there were echelons that made the peloton break into three smaller groups. "Elia was not with me in the front group, so I saw my chance. But there were too many contenders for the general classification in that group, so he was brought back. That’s unfortunate, but it made this race extra hard and I think that’s beautiful.”

Due to his second place, Van Poppel is now ranked third in the general classification and first in the youth classification. “It’s nice that I will be wearing the white jersey tomorrow, but I also know how difficult it will be to defend it. Especially in the last stage, when the finish will be uphill. But for now, I’m especially enjoying this.”