Lennert Van Eetvelt, breakaway for UAE Tour victory
Lennert Van Eetvelt surprises everyone at UAE Tour
The 2024 edition of the UAE Tour, the U.A.E. Tour, è closed with a surprise: è it was in fact Lennert Van Eetvelt who snatched the first position in the general classification from Ben O'Connor on the very last stage, guessing the right breakaway in the final stage of the race, 161 km from Al Ain to Jebel Hafeet.
Ben O'Connor surprised by Lennert Van Eetvelt
The Belgian of the Lotto Dstny won the stage with a 22-second lead over the group ruled by Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team): so much è was enough to overtake the latter by just 2 seconds in the overall standings and thus win the stage race, guinta its sixth edition.
The Belgian's emotion: "I can’t believe it"
"Unbelievable! I can't believe it – Van Eetvelt told the microphones of the UAE Tour's organization – This morning everyone was suggesting that I should put all my energy into it and try to win the general classification. I thought, 'Let's stay realistic, there are guys like Jay Vine who can make a splash'. But really; what I did was what we had planned".
"It's hard to believe I succeeded,” the Belgian said again. “I expected the race to be harder before the last two kilometers.But I went for it all. Wednesday in Jebel Jais I was disappointed because I waited too long, today I started quite early. I am too happy for winning the overall".
UAE Tour, all jerseys
"I already knew from this winter that I had made great improvements. Now I hope this is the’beginning of something big" concluded Van Eetvelt, who in addition to the final red jersey as race leader also won the white jersey, reserved for the best young rider. As for the other jerseys, the green jersey of the points classification è went to Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quick Step), while the black oneof the intermediate sprints è was won by Mark Stewart (Team Corratec-Vini Fantini).
