Lotto-Dstny's Van Eetvelt wins UAE Tour

Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny) has won the sixth edition of the UAE Tour ahead of Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious).

He also won Sunday's Stage 7, The International Holding Company stage, the 161 km long circuit bringing the peloton from Bait Mohammed Bin Khalifa, Al Ain, up to the 1025 meters of Jebel Hafeet.

Speaking moments after the stage finish, Van Eetvelt said, “Unbelievable! I can’t believe it. This morning everyone was telling me to give everything, try and go for GC (General Classification). I was like let’s stay realistic, there are guys like Jay Vine...It’s just hard to believe that I pulled it off.

"I expected the race would be harder before the last two kilometres. But I just went for all or nothing. On Wednesday at Jebel Jais I was disappointed that I waited too much so today I went early enough. Winning GC...I’m so happy. This winter I knew I had made big improvements. Now I hope this is the beginning of something big.”

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 – Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny)
2 – Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) at 2″
3 – Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) at 11″

PROVISIONAL STAGE 7 RESULTS
1 – Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny), 161km in 3h38’28”, av. speed 43.942 km/h
2 – Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) at 22″
3 – Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) s.t.