The Australians have taken over the power in the UAE Tour. At Jebel Jais, the first uphill finish, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) rode to the stage victory after a scorching final kilometer. His compatriot Jay Vine (UAE) takes over the leader’s jersey from his teammate Brandon McNulty. At UAE, leader Adam Yates resigned. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal-Quick Step) more than held their own.
What seemed to be an extended yawn until the foot of the Jebel Jais, unexpectedly turned out to be a beautiful sight.
During the billiard-level run-up to the only climb of the day, the wind suddenly blew. He treated us to fans for the first time this season.
The peloton broke into 2 pieces and the first group opened a gap of just under a minute. At 65 kilometers from the end everything came together again.
At that moment, Adam Yates hit the ground. The leader of UAE Team Emirates got back on his bike, but he had to give up during the climb of the Jebel Jais.
His team persevered and resolutely took the lead during the climb. Attacks by Einer Rubio and Jan Hirt were suppressed by a very strong Mikkel Bjerg.
All favorites seemed to enter the final kilometer together, until Ben O’Connor was launched by his teammate Nicolas Prodhomme. With an ultimate lunge he rode to the stage victory, ahead of Jay Vine and Lennert Van Eetvelt. Ilan Van Wilder finished 5th.
In the general classification, Vine takes over the leader’s jersey from his teammate Brandon McNulty. O’Connor is in 2nd place, 11 seconds behind, Van Wilder also did a good job. He rises to place 4 at 21 seconds behind Vine and retains his youth jersey.
With a podium finish, Lennert Van Eetvelt once again showed his good climbing legs. “I was looking forward to the climb all day and immediately had a good feeling.”
“It was not a steep climb, but there was a lot of wind. So I had to wait and maybe I waited a little too long, because I ended up winning the sprint of the group.”
“I feel like I could have gotten more out of it, but I’m already looking forward to Sunday’s stage.”
2024-02-21 14:14:05
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