Lotto-Soudal's Caleb Yuan took the overall lead after winning the second stage sprint contest atop the Hatta Dam on Monday. With five stages to go, Yuan leads the overall standings by 12 seconds over Bennett, with Groupama-FDJ's Arnaud Demaret in third place, 16 seconds behind. It's always nice to lead the Tour," Ewan said after the stage. I led the Tour Down Under earlier this year, and now I'm leading the UAE Tour. So far this season is going well."

Euan could face a difficult challenge to maintain his race lead on Tuesday, when the race ends on the climb of Jebel Hafeet, which Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won last year. The race will end there again on stage 5, but more sprint opportunities could come on stages 4, 6, and 7.

In the meantime, Ewan will enjoy Monday's victory and the leader's jersey that comes with it.

Ewan was forced to come from behind after Bennett faltered early on the uphill descent.

"It was a really tough finish," said Ewan. I thought it might be a little harder than last year because the profile looked harder, but there was no wind and it was really easy."

The road to the Hatta Dam, however, was not straightforward for the sprinters: the 168-km stage started in Hatta and continued uphill on the outward, return, and just before the finale at the dam name.

Yuan was able to rely on his team to stay in touch on the climb and put him in the right position for the final climb to the dam.

"Of course the last climb was really tough, but the team put me in the best position possible on the last corner," he said. I have to thank them for this victory."

Monday's victory was Euan's third win of 2020 in Lotto Soudal after two stage wins in the Tour Down Under. On Sunday, he was second behind Bora-Hansgrohe's Pascal Ackermann in the first stage of the UAE Tour.