UAE Tour 2020 – Stage 2 [LAST 30 KM]

February 24, 2020

UAE Tour 2020 – Stage 2 – Hatta – Hatta Dam : 168 km

The second edition of the UAE Tour (February 23-29) kicks-off with a world-class field set to compete over the seven-stage race. Top of the bill is Chris Froome (Team Ineos), with the four-time Tour de France winner returning to racing for the first time since his career-threatening crash at last year’s Critérium du Dauphiné.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) triumphed at Hatta Dam for the second year in a row to claim victory on stage 2 of the UAE Tour.

The Australian, who won on the same uphill sprint on stage 4 of last year’s edition, remained patient as Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) hit out early, and came past the Irishman in the last 50 metres.

There was a two-second gap to Bennett at the line, and two more seconds back to the rest of the field, with Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) pipping Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) to the final podium spot.

The victory propels Ewan into the overall lead of the race as Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), who beat him to the opening-day victory, was dropped on the penultimate climb, along with Chris Froome (Team Ineos).

On the approach to the final sprint up Hatta Dam, Astana took control for Alexey Lutsenko, who had taken a bonus second at an earlier intermediate sprint. However, inside the final kilometre, Ewan’s teammate Jasper De Buyst came through to lead out the sprint.

Bennett looked to spring a surprise by hitting out with more than 150 metres to go but Ewan calmly sprinted up into the slipstream before easing past on the double-digit gradients in the final 50 metres as Bennett’s pace plummeted.

“I’m so happy with that win,” said Ewan, who explained he didn’t panic when Bennett went early and opened a gap.

“I could have gone from the bottom too but I knew it was better to wait a few seconds, because those last 20-30 metres are where you can really win the race, and that’s what I did. If you blow there, you can lose so much time. I knew how long I could go for, I timed my sprint really well and was able to accelerate all the way to the line.”

In the overall standings, Ewan leads Bennett by 12 seconds, with Demare third at 16 seconds and Nikolai Cherkasov (Gazprom-RusVelo) fourth at 17 seconds. The majority of the field and the major general classification contenders sit at 20 seconds, but just ahead of them is Lutsenko, who put in a considerable effort to pick up a bonus second at the intermediate sprint with just under 50km to go.

At the first intermediate sprint, after 40km, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) had shown an interest, in another indication that overall contenders are wary that the title – set to be decided on summit finishes at Jebel Hafeet on stages 3 and 5 – could come down to the finest of margins.

As expected, Froome will play no part in the overall battle after struggling on his second day of racing since his serious crash last June. The British rider was dropped on a climb with 10km to go and despite nearly regaining contact after the descent, finished more than 3:30 behind the main bunch.

How it unfolded

The 168km stage started out in Hatta, just below the Dam, but the route headed north out to the emirate of Fujairah before tracking a similar route back. There was a diversion in the finale, in order to tackle a short climb with 10km to go on a parcours that, while lacking a categorised ascent, nevertheless packed in 2500 metres of elevation gain.

Two riders failed to take to the start, Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) and Laurens De Plus (Jumbo-Visma) both withdrawing due to illness.

There wasn’t much interest in a breakaway, and it was left to two teammates from the Vini Zabu’ KTM team – Veljko Stojnic and Leonardo Tortomasi – to spend the day out front together. Their advantage over the peloton rose to 4:30 as Stojnic took the points at the first intermediate sprint.

By the second intermediate sprint, with just under 50km to go, Lotto Soudal had brought the gap down to a minute. Stojnic took maximum points again to ensure he’ll wear the black jersey tomorrow as leader of the intermediate sprints classification, before sitting up, grabbing bottles from the team car, and waiting for the peloton. In the bunch behind, there was a battle for the final bonus second. Lutsenko received a two-man lead-out from Astana and had to sprint full gas in order to hold off Jesus Herrada, who had been propelled to the front by his own Cofidis teammates.

The gap to the lone leader, Tortomasi, stabilised at 1:30 before falling sharply ahead of his capture with 24km to go. From there, there was a strong tempo leading to the climb with just over 10km to go. Ackermann and Mark Cavendish (Bahrain McLaren) were among the sprinters to lose contact – along with Froome – but Ewan and Bennett showed no sign of trouble.

Towards the top, Victor Campenaerts (NTT) launched a speculative attack and was joined by Trek-Segafredos Nicola Conci. The duo took 20 seconds over the top but were caught with 3.5km to go. Just before that, Froome had sprinted out of a corner to try and finish closing the deficit he’d suffered on the climb, but was unable to do so and rode steadily up to the finish.

After some disorganisation in the closing kiliometres, Astana took control and led through Gorka Izaguirre from 2km to go, with Lutsenko on the wheel. With 700m to go, De Buyst surged up to take Ewan to the front. Bennett hijacked the lead-out and looked to upset things with an early sprint, but Ewan had the experience and judged his effort to perfection.

Results :
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 4:18:16
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:02
3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:04
4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
5 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
6 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale
7 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
9 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
11 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
12 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
13 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
14 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
15 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
16 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
19 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
20 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
21 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
22 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren
23 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep
24 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC Team
25 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
26 Sergei Chernetskii (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
27 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
28 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
29 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-Quickstep
30 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Team Ineos
31 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
32 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
33 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
34 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R la Mondiale
35 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
36 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
37 Victor De la Parte (Spa) CCC Team
38 Stefan De Bod (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
39 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Israel Start-Up Nation
40 Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
41 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
42 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal
43 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
44 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
45 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team
46 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
47 Hernando Bohorquez Sanchez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:00:26
48 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:28
49 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis 0:00:30
50 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
51 Umberto Marengo (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
52 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) CCC Team 0:00:34
53 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
54 Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
55 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis 0:00:44
56 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren 0:00:48
57 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
58 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:50
59 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale 0:00:55
60 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:01:00
61 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
62 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:04
63 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
64 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
65 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:13
66 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis
67 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
68 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation
69 Vladislav Kulikov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
70 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
71 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb
72 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
73 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation
74 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
75 Kaden Groves (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:25
76 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates
77 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
78 Stijn Steels (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:01:34
79 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
80 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:40
81 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:42
82 Michael Carbel Svendgaard (Den) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:44
83 Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:54
84 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:57
85 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:00
86 Andrey Amador (CRc) Team Ineos 0:02:06
87 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:11
88 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team 0:02:29
89 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
90 Iñigo Elosegui Momeñe (Spa) Movistar Team
91 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana Pro Team
92 Francisco Jose Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) CCC Team 0:02:34
93 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:02:52
94 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos 0:02:54
95 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling 0:02:56
96 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-Quickstep
97 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
98 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:00
99 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
100 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
101 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
102 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team
103 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
104 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
105 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:03:15
106 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:22
107 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:24
108 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:33
109 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:38
110 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Ineos 0:03:44
111 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Ineos 0:03:46
112 Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) Team Ineos 0:03:48
113 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:51
114 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:57
115 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:16
116 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:04:40
117 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team 0:04:42
118 Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
119 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:02
120 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:05:10
121 James Mitri (NZl) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:06:23
122 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:06:28
123 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:36
124 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Bahrain McLaren 0:07:05
125 Jay Thomson (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:07:07
126 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis 0:07:19
127 Imerio Cima (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
128 Cristian Scaroni (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo
129 Leonardo Tortomasi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
130 Charles Quarterman (GBr) Trek-Segafredo 0:07:24
131 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:07:28
132 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb 0:07:32
133 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:07:34
134 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
135 Veljko Stojnic (Srb) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:07:40
136 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team
137 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation
138 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNS Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
DNS Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 7:47:19
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:00:12
3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:16
4 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:17
5 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:19
6 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:20
7 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale
8 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
9 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
10 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
11 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
12 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
13 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
14 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain McLaren
15 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
17 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
18 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
19 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
20 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
21 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC Team
22 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
23 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
24 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
25 Stefan De Bod (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
26 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
27 Sergei Chernetskii (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
28 Victor De la Parte (Spa) CCC Team
29 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
30 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
31 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
32 Edward Dunbar (Irl) Team Ineos
33 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R la Mondiale
34 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
35 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
36 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-Quickstep
37 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
38 Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
39 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal
40 Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Astana Pro Team
41 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-Quickstep
42 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
43 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
44 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
45 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Israel Start-Up Nation
46 Hernando Bohorquez Sanchez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:00:42
47 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:44
48 Hector Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:46
49 Umberto Marengo (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
50 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis
51 Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:00:50
52 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
53 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) CCC Team
54 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis 0:01:00
55 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren 0:01:04
56 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
57 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:06
58 Jaakko Hanninen (Fin) AG2R la Mondiale 0:01:11
59 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:16
60 Andrea Garosio (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
61 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:20
62 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
63 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM
64 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:01:29
65 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation
66 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
67 François Bidard (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale
68 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Bahrain McLaren
69 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
70 Vladislav Kulikov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
71 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain McLaren
72 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis
73 Kaden Groves (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:41
74 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates
75 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
76 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:50
77 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:56
78 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:58
79 Michael Carbel Svendgaard (Den) NTT Pro Cycling 0:02:00
80 Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:02:10
81 Stijn Steels (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep
82 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:16
83 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bahrain McLaren 0:02:18
84 Andrey Amador (CRc) Team Ineos 0:02:22
85 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep 0:02:27
86 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:02:33
87 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Movistar Team 0:02:45
88 Iñigo Elosegui Momeñe (Spa) Movistar Team
89 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
90 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana Pro Team
91 Francisco Jose Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) CCC Team 0:02:50
92 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Ineos 0:03:10
93 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling 0:03:12
94 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-Quickstep
95 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:16
96 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ
97 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Ineos
98 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
99 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Team
100 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:03:31
101 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation
102 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:38
103 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:42
104 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:59
105 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Ineos 0:04:00
106 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Ineos 0:04:02
107 Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) Team Ineos 0:04:04
108 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:07
109 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain McLaren 0:04:22
110 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:32
111 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:04:35
112 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:46
113 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:55
114 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:04:56
115 Attilio Viviani (Ita) Cofidis 0:04:58
116 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Team
117 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:18
118 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:06:05
119 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling 0:06:32
120 James Mitri (NZl) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:06:39
121 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:06:44
122 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:52
123 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:07:16
124 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Bahrain McLaren 0:07:21
125 Jay Thomson (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:07:23
126 Leonardo Tortomasi (Ita) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:07:27
127 Imerio Cima (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:07:35
128 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis
129 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:40
130 Charles Quarterman (GBr) Trek-Segafredo
131 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:07:43
132 Veljko Stojnic (Srb) Vini Zabu’ KTM 0:07:45
133 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb 0:07:48
134 Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:07:50
135 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:07:52
136 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:56
137 Albert Torres Barcelo (Spa) Movistar Team
138 Cristian Scaroni (Ita) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:09:27