The young Cumbrian continues to be the best-placed Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider in the general classification.
The longest stage of the World Tour race had a familiar feeling for many riders, having been raced before as the most difficult stage of the Dubai Tour several times, which culminated – just like now – with the gruelling climb to Hatta Dam, a 200m-long hill with gradients ranging from 12% to 17%.
On paper, it should have been a quiet day until the closing kilometers, when the teams vying for victory were expected to bring their leaders at the front so they could start in pole-position the leg-sapping ascent, but a short-lived sandstorm, echelons and a big crash which occurred inside the final ten kilometers complicated things and made up for a very stressful stage, which ended up changing the dynamics when it came down to crunch time.
Unfortunately for Deceuninck – Quick-Step, Remco Evenepoel was involved in crash that took place midway through the stage and the neo-pro had to call it a race. Fortunately, after undergoing further examination at the local hospital, fractures were excluded, the 19-year-old – who was 15th in the general classification – being left just with several superficial wounds.
James Knox carried the flag again for our team, after being brought near the front of the charging peloton by Danish Champion Michael Mørkøv, and finished with the main field, five seconds down on stage 4 winner Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), thus retaining his top 10 place in the GC. With three days left of the race, the only thing that really stands between the Brit and his finest result in a World Tour event is the 20km-long climb to Jebel Jais, which will be tackled Friday afternoon.
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
