UAE Tour: Groenewegen wins stage 4

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Dylan Gronewegen (Jumbo-Visma) claimed victory on stage 4 of the UAE Tour, triumphing in a hectic bunch sprint in Dubai.

The Dutchman, whose Jumbo-Visma teammates had made a surge with 3km to go, latched onto the wheel of Sam Bennett and his Deceuninck-QuickStep lead-out as Mitchelton-Scott led through a tight left-hand bend into the home straight.

Bennett was the first to launch his sprint but Groenewegen soon hit out and moved clear. Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), who was tucked in behind Groenewegen, ran him close but was unable to move past, while the final spot on the podium went to Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe). 

Adam Yates finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall lead of the race.

"This one is really nice, all the sprinters are here, including myself," Groenewegen said. 

"The first day I was not in the best position to make the sprint, but we saw that the speed was really good. So today was a little bit different. In the last corner, I was in really good position and we took the win so that’s really nice."

"The team did a very good job in the last 3k. We made a move there. They did a really strong lead-out to bring me to the last corner. Then I was on the wheel of Bennett and, yeah, it was a good position."

The flat 173km stage was in danger of not coming down to a bunch sprint at all, as Trek-Segafredo's Will Clarke, who'd been in a day-long break with Veljko Stojnic (Vini Zabu-KTM), put the pressure on the sprinters' teams in the final 30km. 

The pair had built a lead of a few minutes but were on the brink of capture at the second of two intermediate sprints, with 42km to go, as the peloton were wary of crosswinds. However, while Stojnic, who had successfully extended his lead in the intermediate sprints classification, dropped back, Clarke pressed on and managed to open up a lead of more than two minutes.

WIth 20km to go, Lotto Soudal's Remy Mertz peeled off the front of the bunch, leaving Alejandro Valverde and his Movistar men on the front. Naturally, they weren't interested in chasing for a sprint, and it took a few moments of inaction before Deceuninck-QuickStep posted two representatives to the front. 

Riding into a headwind, the odds were stacked against Clarke, and he was caught 7.5km from the line, with QuickStep climber Knox staying on the front of the bunch all the way to 4km to go. It wasn't long, then, before Jumbo-Visma attacked en masse to seize control of the lead-out. However, they appeared to fall away just before the flamme rouge, as Mitchelton-Scott came through to take pole position into the all-important left-hander that led into the home straight. 

Luka Mezgec was leading out Kaden Groves for the Australian team but QuickStep had themselves organised just behind and it proved to be the perfect position. Groenewegen, however, was poised to take advantage of Bennett's lead-out and was simply too fast for the Irishman. 

Gaviria was tucked in behind and only looked to move out with 50 metres to go, by which point it was too late. Ackermann passed Bennett for the final podium spot, while Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), who'd crashed earlier on, started too far back and found himself crowded out.

The race returns to Jebel Hafeet on stage 5, where Adam Yates won on Tuesday, for the second of the two summit finishes that will define the overall classification.

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