UAE Tour (st. 2)

Spaniard into main GC group at tough Hatta finish -won by Ewan (LTS), new race leader- before first of two key ascents in the Emirati race on Tuesday.

Australian Caleb Ewan (LTS) claimed back-to-back victories at the Hatta Dam climb -400m with max slopes of 17%-, the first uphill finish of the 2020 UAE Tour, with a convincing display in front of Sam Bennett (DQT) and Arnaud Démare (GFC). The trio sits now in the top spots of a GC which didn’t otherwise see any significant gaps between the main race contenders.

Alejandro Valverde had good support from the Movistar Team all over the first of three key stages in the Emirati race. The long stints at the front of the bunch by Albert Torres; the strong turns by Sergio Samitier and Dario Cataldo to reduce the field of contenders into the climbs prior to the finish; the controlling work by Iñigo Elosegui behind Campenaerts (NTT) and Conci (TFS), who escaped inside the last 10km; and the final lead-out by Héctor Carretero and José Joaquín Rojas all helped ‘Bala’ finish 13th, inside the same 4″ split all favourites made it to the line.

The Spanish road race champion from the Movistar Team will now head towards Tuesday’s first of two-mountain top finishes this week at Jebel Hafeet (10.8km, 6.6% avg.), just 48 hours apart and set to define the overall victor of the UAE Tour come next Saturday.

Cover picture (c): Dario Belingheri / BettiniPhoto