Caleb Ewan sprinted to victory in the second stage of the UAE Tour on Monday, taking the overall lead in the process, while Chris Froome was dropped by the peloton.
Ewan edged out Sam Bennett on the up-hill climb at the finish to take the win at Hatta Dam for a second straight year.
“We thought today’s stage was going to be harder, but because there was no wind, it turned out fairly easy,” said Ewan.
The Australian took the lead in the general classification as first-stage winner Pascal Ackermann fell away on the penultimate climb.
Chris Froome was dropped by the leaders eight kilometres from the finish, ending 111th at 3min 46sec.
Arnaud Demare was third on the day after the 168km ride from Hatta to Hatta Dam.
Tuesday’s 184km third stage ends with a challenging final climb of 10.6km, with a seven percent average gradient, at Jebel Hafeet.
UAE Tour 2020 – stage 2 results (Hatta – Hatta Dam):
| 1 | Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) | 4:18:16 |
| 2 | Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +02” |
| 3 | Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) | +04” |
| 4 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 5 | Rick Zabel (Israel Start-Up Nation) | ,, |
| 6 | Andrea Vendrame (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 7 | Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 9 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 10 | David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
UAE Tour 2020 – general classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) | 7:47:19 |
| 2 | Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +12” |
| 3 | Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) | +16” |
| 4 | Nikolay Cherkasov (Gazprom-RusVelo) | +17” |
| 5 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | +19” |
| 6 | Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) | +20” |
| 7 | Andrea Vendrame (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 8 | Rick Zabel (Israel Start-Up Nation) | ,, |
| 9 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 10 | David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
