A hot favourite to win Stage 2's uphill finish at Hatta Dam, where he claimed victory last year, Australia’s Caleb Ewan handled the pressure to make it two in a row. Ewan finished ahead of Ireland’s Sam Bennett, who led the charge at the bottom of the brutal final climb, and Arnaud Démare. The Australian took the overall lead of the UAE Tour, while climbers like Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, who sprinted for third place in an intermediate sprint on Stage 2, are expected to take over at the summit of Jebel Hafeet on Stage 3.
STAGE RESULT
1 - Caleb Ewan, 168km in 4h18’16”, average speed 39.029km/h
2 - Sam Bennett at 2"
3 - Arnaud Démare at 4"
JERSEYS
- The Red Jersey, sponsored by Emirates (General individual classification by time) - Caleb Ewan
- The Green Jersey, sponsored by Mubadala (General individual classification by points) - Caleb Ewan, to be worn by Leonardo Tortomasi
- The White Jersey, sponsored by Nakheel (Best Young Rider born after 1 January 1995) - Nikolai Cherkasov
- The Black Jersey, sponsored by Abu Dhabi Aviation (Intermediate Sprint Jersey Classification) - Veljko Stojnic
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 - Caleb Ewan
2 - Sam Bennett at 12"
3 - Arnaud Démare at 16"
PRESS CONFERENCE
The stage winner and Red Jersey Caleb Ewan said: “I knew from last year that you can see the finish from the bottom of the climb to Hatta Dam and it doesn’t look so far but it’s very hard and we don’t go so fast up that hill. I made sure that I kept the energy I needed for the last 50 metres. After the successful season I had last year I really wanted to start this season well and keep the momentum. This year’s start is better than last year’s. Milan-Sanremo is the race I’ve really been aiming for at the start of every season in the past few years. Nothing changes here. It’s my big goal for the first part of 2020. This year we’ll have an even better team than last year and we have a second option with Philippe Gilbert if the race is hard.”
