Caleb Ewan outsprinting Mark Cavendish in stage 4 of the Abu Dhabi Tour (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Caleb Ewan closed out the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour with a sprint victory Sunday, earning a bit of redemption after an early celebration cost him the win on Friday's stage 2.
The 22-year-old Orica-Scott rider proved the fastest man on the Yas Marina Formula One circuit, besting Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and André Greipel to nab the fourth and final stage of the race after a surprisingly rainy day in Abu Dubai.
Race leader Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) stayed safe in the peloton and rolled across the line on the same time as the sprinters to wrap up the overall title, with Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) rounding out the podium.
Dylan Teuns (BMC), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Kirill Sveshnikov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Rafael Valls (Lotto Soudal) and Movistar's Alex Dowsett and Jorge Arcas formed the day's main breakaway, but not even a rare spell of driving rain could deny the fast finishers on such a sprinter-friendly parcours. The escapees were caught with a little under 30 kilometres left to race, and from there it was a gradual winding up of speed as the quick men prepared for the finale.
With a well-executed lead out guiding him into the finishing straight, Ewan was in a strong position to start his sprint and quickly pulled out in front as the bunch kick began. Cavendish tried to close down Ewan's early advantage, but he couldn't quite catch the youngster, who sailed across the line for his fifth WorldTour win of the season.
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