The Hatta Dam climb at the UAE Tour has become famed for some brutal and exciting finishes in recent years.
While the ramp may be only 200 metres long at the steepest point, the gradients hit a maximum of around 17 per cent, making it a daunting final to a stage.
In this year’s edition, Caleb Ewan made it two-in-a-row as he powered to victory and followed up on his win from 2019 on the Hatta Dam climb.
But Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s Sam Bennett proved himself a worthy challenger, launching his sprint early and almost holding off Ewan before he lost momentum after clipping the barrier at the side of the road.
But how tough is the Hatta Dam ramp? We looked into the power data to find out.
Unfortunately, stage winner Lotto-Soudal Caleb Ewan doesn’t share his power data on Strava, but we can get a glimpse of Sam Bennett’s effort thanks to Velon, which publishes inside information about professional racing.
During his final 26-second sprint for the line, the Irishman held a staggering 1,060 watts, which is around 14 watts per kilo.
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Bennett also hit a maximum power of 1,480w on his way to second place on the stage, with an average speed of 27.3km/h.
Jumbo-Visma’s Koen Bouwman has also uploaded his power data from the ride, which reveals he held 604 for the final 41 seconds over the stage, or around 10w/kg for his 60kg build, as he finished in 32nd place with the peloton.
The Strava rider with the fastest time up the climb on Monday (February 24) was Groupama-FDJ’s David Gaudu, with a time of 29 seconds for the final 180m. But unfortunately he doesn’t share his power data.
