Belgian cyclist Lennert Van Eetvelt emerges as shock winner of 2024 UAE Tour

Lennert Van Eetvelt kept the best for last to emerge as overall winner of the 2024 UAE Tour on the summit of Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain on Sunday.

The Lotto Dstny team’s Belgian rider snatched the biggest victory of his career to win Stage 7 ahead of Spaniard Pello Bilbao and Australian Ben O’Connor and top the general classification standings in the sixth edition of the only WorldTour race in the Middle East.

Van Eetvelt attacked on the final slopes of Jebel Hafeet with 1.7 kilometres to go and finished clear of the chasing group that included several pre-race favourites.

Bilbao of Bahrain Victorious took second spot 22 seconds behind and O'Connor of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team completed the podium.

In the GC standings, Van Eetvelt finished just two seconds clear of O'Connor, with Bilbao completing the podium at 11 seconds in arrears.

“Unbelievable, I cannot believe it. This morning, everyone was telling me just go for everything, try to win GC, you can do it and I was like 'come on guys we have to stay realistic. I'm still far behind, a lot of the world's best guys are still there',” said Van Eetvelt, who also took the white jersey for the best young rider.

“But this was the plan, this was what I had in my head and I cannot believe that I pulled it off.”

The UAE Team Emirates' hopes ended in disappointment. The home team came into the stage aiming to clinch the title through Jay Vine, the overnight GC leader, or Brandon McNulty, who sat in third place.

McNulty cracked on the final climb before Australian slipped out of contention soon after.

Van Eetvelt, 22, came into the final stage of this year's race sitting in ninth overall at 37 seconds adrift and few recognised the Belgian as a potential GC winner before the