Good things come in threes for Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), now a three-time ruler of the UAE Tour. He once again tamed the slopes up Jebel Hafeet on Sunday 23 February to kick off his 2025 season, in the wake of a year marked by his magnificent treble of Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and UCI World Championships.
“Today’s race was just suffering until 2km to go when I could relax a bit and try to enjoy the last kilometres, thinking of seeing my family at the finish,” the Slovenian explained. “It’s nice to finish the UAE Tour like this. Now, I don’t race stage races anymore until Dauphiné, so it’s time to switch the mind to the one-day Classics and I will try to enjoy!”
Also a winner at Jebel Jais earlier in the week, Pogačar is already up to three wins this year, following last year’s 25 victories, when he started his season a couple of weeks later, at Strade Bianche. He hadn’t participated in the UAE Tour since his victories in 2021 and 2022… His return to his team’s national event, with the rainbow jersey on his shoulders, was more than successful.
Battles of sprinters
From the get-go, attention was turned to Pogačar’s panache. With the road suddenly rising inside the last kilometre of stage 1, could the Slovenian serial winner already strike on a mostly flat stage, designed for sprinters? The UCI Road World Champion led the charge but his explosive kick wasn’t enough to resist the raw power of the pure sprinters, with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) prevailing on the line.
The Italian, already a two-time winner of the points standings of the Giro to go along with his magnificent record on the track, announced that he would focus most of his efforts on the road this year… And he went on to double down with a second stage win three days later, in much tighter fashion. “I saw Tim Merlier coming very fast, then I waited for the photo finish and I eventually was told that I won but I didn’t know,” Milan said.
The Belgian sprinter got his revenge, going on to win stages 5 and 6 with impressive efforts, especially on the last occasion, where he surged past his rivals with still a long way to go. “I was far, I thought it was over but I found a gap with 300 metres to go and I surprised everyone,” Merlier said. “It was a long effort.”
Pogačar surges
The rest of the week was dedicated to the battle for the overall standings and to Pogačar’s triumph. Stage 2 was still not his day to win though… The Al Hudayriyat Island (12.2km) individual time trial favoured Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), enforcing his power and speed only a handful of days after turning 21 years old. At 56.671km/h, the young Brit set a new record speed for the UAE Tour and became the youngest rider to wear the leader’s jersey of the event. But only for 24 hours.
Pogačar’s third place in the ITT put him in perfect position to pounce on day 3, with the first mountain top finish of the 2025 UCI WorldTour, at Jebel Jais. Tarling struggled as the best climbers upped the ante towards the summit and Pogačar swapped his rainbow jersey for a red one. “I’m happy to lead the race but we also know that Jebel Jais isn’t very suitable for making differences,” the Slovenian said.
His breakaway on flat roads on day 5 was not the place to create said differences either. But when Jebel Hafeet looms on the horizon…
Pogačar had already conquered this summit every time he raced in the UAE Tour, in 2020, 2021 and 2022. This edition was no different, despite Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Soudal Quick-Step splitting the bunch with echelons in the first half of the stage. Some 42 riders came together at the bottom of the final climb. And Pogačar dropped them all with 7.5km to go, eventually winning with a 33’’ margin on Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), also the runner-up in the overall standings (+1’14’’).