Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) won the Abu Dhabi Tour‘s individual time trial stage, completing the 12.6km course 14 seconds quicker than his closest rival Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky).
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) suffered a mechanical problem on his run and was left standing at the roadside for a new bike.
The reigning Australian national time trial champion settled into his rhythm quickly, posting the provisional best time at the intermediate checkpoint before powering across the line in 14’21”.
It was a nervous wait in the hot seat, but ultimately Dennis’ impressive effort would see him secure both the stage victory as well as the red leader’s jersey heading into the final day of racing and the summit finish on Jebel Hafeet tomorrow.
“I felt pretty good today. It was a weird effort because although I never felt bad, I also never felt awesome”, said Dennis. “I felt strong, but it wasn’t like I was absolutely on top of my game like I have been in previous time trials that are quite short. I was happy to come across the line and know that I had done a really good ride and then getting the win was a good little bonus.”
“It is always good to win and to have two wins so far this season is nice. It is the same as what I had this time last year, but I still have one more stage to go here and hopefully I have three at the end of tomorrow. The overall win here would be absolutely awesome, and it would really top off my start to the season.”
Abu Dhabi Tour 2018 – stage 4 results (Al Maryah Island ITT):
| 1 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | 14:21 |
| 2 | Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky) | +12” |
| 3 | Miles Scotson (BMC) | +14” |
| 4 | Jos Van Emden (LottoNl-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 5 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 6 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) | +17” |
| 7 | Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb) | +22” |
| 8 | Patrick Bevin (BMC) | +23” |
| 9 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +27” |
| 10 | Alex Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin) | +29” |
General classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | 11:21:10 |
| 2 | Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky) | +14” |
| 3 | Miles Scotson (BMC) | +16” |
| 4 | Jos Van Emden (LottoNl-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 5 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 6 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) | +17” |
| 7 | Patrick Bevin (BMC) | +23” |
| 8 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +24” |
| 9 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +31” |
| 10 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | +34” |
