The final stage to the infamous Jebel Hafeet had to provide the anticlimax in this UAE Tour. The time differences in the general classification were still quite limited and that obviously offered opportunities. Halfway through the stage, the wind picked up a bit more and echelons formed. Led by Team Visma | Lease a Bike and others, the peloton broke into two. For a while it seemed that group two would not return, but that eventually didn’t turn out to be the case.

The decision had to and would fall on the final climb to Jebel Hafeet. At the foot of the climb, the group had already thinned out considerably. Only about 40 riders were still together. This included Valter and Lemmen. The latter tried several times to go with other attackers, but without success. In the end the victory went to Lennert Van Eetvelt, who cleverly kept the group with Valter behind him.

"The aim was to get Bart and Attila both in the top ten of the general classification. On the way, we saw that there were opportunities for echelons and we made use of them. We were with six out of seven riders in a group of around 30 riders. At that point everything was actually going fine for us," said team manager Maarten Wynants.

Unfortunately for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, the second group was still able to rejoin. Everything would therefore depend on the Jebel Hafeet. "Our classification riders were perfectly dropped by the other guys. Attila and Bart managed to get into the top ten as an unspoken classification rider, which is very impressive," says an elated team manager from the United Arab Emirates.

In addition to Wynants, Valter himself also felt good about this week in the Middle East. "We won a stage with Olav and both me and Bart finished in the top 10 of the general classification. We couldn’t have dreamed for better results considering the field of competitors here. So we can go home satisfied and I look forward to racing here again next year," Valter said.