Caleb Ewan conquered the short, steep climb to the edge of Hatta Dam to win Stage 4 of the UAE Tour and grab his first for new team Lotto-Soudal.
The young Australian pointed into the air in celebration as he crossed the line. Young Italian sprinter Matteo Moschetti of Trek-Segafredo was second and race leader Primoz Roglic was third, taking a precious four-second time bonus and maintaining his overall lead.
Here are the talking points from day four.
CALEB WINS THE LOTTO
A brilliant and belated maiden Lotto-Soudal victory for Ewan will have been a weight off the Australian’s shoulders after a difficult start to life on his new team.
The 24-year-old won – or thought he had – his first race in his new colours when he crossed the finish line first on Stage 5 of the Tour Down Under in his homeland last month.
But not only did Ewan have the win taken away from him, he was relegated to last place, handed a time penalty of 30 seconds, deducted 15 points in the sprints competition and fined 500 Swiss francs for “an irregular final sprint”, during which the sprinter was caught on camera appearing to headbutt UAE Team Emirates rider Jasper Philipsen in the final few 100 metres.
Belgian Philipsen finished second before being promoted to winner just five days into his UCI WorldTour career.
It was the worst start to life with the new team for Ewan, who had left Aussie team Mitchelton-Scott under a cloud last season, due in large part to being overlooked for a spot in last year’s Tour de France contingent in favour of Briton Adam Yates.
But he put all that behind him with perhaps a surprising win on a steep Stage 4 finish high above Hatta, following up his third place on Stage 2.
TEAM SUNWEB GOING DOUBLE DUTCH
Tom Dumoulin sits behind team-mate Wilco Kelderman.
Tom Dumoulin tends to come into most races he enters among the favourites, but it is Team Sunweb’s other Dutchman who is looking the more likely candidate to threaten Roglic’s quest to win the inaugural UAE Tour title following another solid day.
Wilco Kelderman has not slipped outside the top 10 in the GC standings since the opening stage in Abu Dhabi and his eighth-placed finish on the time trial. Colleague and compatriot Dumoulin finished at the same time but has since been overtaken by the Amersfoort native, who has followed his opening day up with finishes of 33rd, 11th and sixth to sit fifth overall, 54 seconds behind Roglic.
Kelderman looked like he might power up the short steep finish at Hatta to claim Stage 4 victory but he just didn’t have the legs to live with Ewan, but it was yet more evidence of the 27-year-old’s prowess in the Emirates – he finished second overall at last year’s Abu Dhabi Tour.
Dumoulin won the 2017 Giro d’Italia and is the undisputed team leader at Sunweb, while he is only 10 seconds behind Kelderman in the overall reckoning.
But team chiefs might just be torn over which all-rounder to back for glory in the Emirates come the final day on Saturday.
ONE FOR THE SPRINTERS
Fernando Gaviria will look for a second victory in the UAE on Thursday.
Thursday’s Stage 5 will be a welcome return to speed for the fast men in the field after a tough couple of days in the mountains – but they will need to hit form fast if they are to catch up in the GC standings.
After the Flag Island to Khor Fakkan stage, the race returns to the hills for what will be a gruelling Stage 6 from Ajman to Jebel Jais on Friday, where the mountain men will look to once again grab the spotlight.
Stage 2 winner Fernando Gaviria and UAE Team Emirates colleague Alexander Kristoff are sitting a daunting 18 minutes off the pace of Roglic, with Wednesday winner Ewan just ahead at 17:41 off the lead of the Slovenian Team Jumbo-Visma man.
The sprinters need to act fast.
