Caleb Ewan beats Sam Bennett on the Hatta Damn and takes the overall lead at the UAE Tour!

Australian Caleb Ewan sprinted to victory in the second stage of the UAE Tour on Monday, taking the overall lead in the process, while Chris Froome was dropped by the peloton

The 25-year-old Ewan, who also won two stages on the Tour Down Under earlier this year, edged out Irishman Sam Bennett on the up-hill climb at the finish to take the win at Hatta Dam for a second straight year.

"We thought today's stage was going to be harder, but because there was no wind, it turned out fairly easy," said Ewan.

The Australian took the lead in the general classification as first-stage winner Pascal Ackermann fell away on the penultimate climb.

Four-time Tour de France winner Froome, racing for the first time since a horror crash during training at the Criterium du Dauphine last June, was dropped by the leaders eight kilometres from the finish, ending 111th at 3min 46sec.

Frenchman Arnaud Demare was third on the day after the 168km ride from Hatta to Hatta Dam.

Tuesday's 184km third stage ends with a challenging final climb of 10.6km, with a seven percent average gradient, at Jebel Hafeet.

VIDEO: 2020 UAE Tour Stage 2 Highlights

2020 UAE Tour Stage 2 Top 10

1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 04:18:18
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:02
3 Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 00:00:04
4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
5 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
6 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
9 Tadej Pogacr (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

2020 UAE Tour GC after Stage 2

1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal      7:47:19
2 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-QuickStep  0:00:12
3 Arnaud Démare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ        0:00:16
4 Nikolai Cherkasov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo           0:00:17
5 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team  0:00:19
6 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott          0:00:20
7 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R la Mondiale         
8 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation   
9 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb   
10 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ