The second mass arrival of the UAE Tour 2024 produced the same result as the first - at least in the first two places. As on the first day of the tour, Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) came out on top ahead of Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team). Third place this time went to Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike). The best German was Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) in eighth place.
Tim Merlier wins stage 4 of the UAE Tour 2024
"The team put me in a good position. The last 500 metres were similar to stage 1. I waited to start my sprint and wanted to go a bit too early again. Then I waited a bit again and saw Olav Kooij pass me on the left. I tried to jump on his wheel. When I was there, I passed him. That was enough to win again," said Merlier in the official winner's interview.
There were no shifts in the top positions in the overall standings. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) defended the overall lead ahead of Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
UAE Tour 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 4
- Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) 4:01:47
- Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +0:00
- Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:00
- Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis) +0:00
- Jakub Mareczko (Team Corratec - Vini Fantini) +0:00
- Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
- Jarne van de Paar (Lotto-Dstny) +0:00
- Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) +0:00
- Oded Kogut (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
How the 4th stage of the UAE Tour 2024 went
The stage had to be shortened by seven kilometres due to a diversion, leaving only 168 kilometres on the programme. Mark Stewart (Team Corratec - Vini Fantini) continued his series of breakaways and maintained his lead in the points classification by scoring points at the intermediate sprints. At his side: Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto-Dstny).
After winning the second intermediate sprint, Stewart dropped back into the peloton. 48 kilometres before the finish, the Belgian was also dropped again by Lotto-Dstny. Things only got really eventful again around three kilometres before the finish. After a wave, there was a crash in the centre of the peloton. This slowed down the Bora-Hansgrohe train around Sam Welsford, among others.
Alpecin-Deceuninck took over for Kaden Groves at the head of the peloton for the final kilometre. Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) then opened the sprint around 250 metres before the finish, with Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick Step) on his wheel. The Belgian passed him 50 metres before the finish and took a commanding victory ahead of Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Kooij.
