A duel denied but world champion eager to shine alongside Vine, Yates, Cavendish, Ewan and Bennett
(Image credit: Getty)
To say Remco Evenepoel has unfinished business at the UAE Tour might be something of an overstatement. But there can be no doubt that in 2023, the world champion will want things to play out very differently to his only previous participation in the Middle East’s highest-ranked bike race.
Back in 2019, Evenepoel turned in an impressive performance at the UAE Tour for a fledgling neo-pro on the opening summit finish of Jebel Hafeet, claiming 15th, only to crash out the following day. Mercifully, he only had minor injuries, but his remarkable leap directly from the junior ranks to the WorldTour meant he was already high-profile enough for his untimely exit to generate much of the day’s column inches.
Four years on, and that abandon is one memory Evenepoel will surely be keen to put behind him for good next Monday when the starting whistle blows on the 2023 UAE Tour at Al Dafra castle.
Another, of course, will be his recent misstep at the Vuelta a San Juan, where an overly enthusiastic attack on the Alto Colorado proved so costly to his hopes of retaining his overall title.
At that point, Evenepoel was still looking to the UAE Tour as a chance to measure himself against Tadej Pogačar, but the Slovenian would later opt to start his season in Spain.
For now, theirs will be a duel by distance. And, after Pogačar’s blistering solo rides in Andalucia this week, there will be considerable interest in what Evenepoel can achieve in his absence on the Jebel Jais and Jebel Hafeet mountain finishes at the UAE Tour.
Pogačar’s absence for the first time since that 2019 edition also leaves something of a power vacuum.
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With two outright GC victories and a second place overall in his previous three appearances, as well as four stage wins, Pogačar has long been the key reference point for his ‘home’ race.
His absence means that a stage racing duel between Evenepoel and Pogačar might not take place at all this year, assuming the two stick to their current published schedules and different Grand Tour ambitions.
With Evenepoel heading to the Giro d’Italia and Pogačar to the Tour de France, the only races where the two may clash are Liège-Bastogne-Liège and then the World Championships in August. This year’s edition of La Doyenne promises to be even more attractive as a result.
Despite Pogačar's absence, Evenepoel will still face significant competition and another former overall winner of the UAE Tour next week.
Adam Yates is headlining the UAE Team Emirates squad in Pogačar’s absence and won the event in 2020.
If his resounding defeat of the Slovenian on Jebel Hafeet that year is anything to go by, taking the victory by over a minute, the Briton will be very much a man to watch next Sunday on the same climb. He will also be part of a very strong squad, with Jay Vine and Brandon McNulty both featuring on UAE Team Emirates roster.
Other overall contenders include Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).
(Image credit: UAE Team Emirates)
If Pogačar’s absence and Evenepoel’s presence combine to push the UAE Tour into unchartered waters, the return of the team time trial to the race is an another unfamiliar element, given the speciality was last part of a UAE Tour in 2019.
On the occasion, the opening test at Al Hudayriat Island propelled Primož Roglič into the overall lead, which he defended all the way to the finish.
This year the TTT is of similar length – 17.2km as opposed to 16km – and also comes early on the race on stage 2, thus giving the overall standings some definition ahead of the mountains. Cyclingnews understands that time trial bikes will be allowed, creating a fast and spectacular stage.
Beyond the GC battle, the UAE Tour is well-known for its multiple bunch sprints. Bora-Hansgrohe directeur sportif Rolf Aldag told Cyclingnews that it is “the unofficial sprinters’ World Championships. "
Four out of the seven stages are perfect for the fastmen. Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny), Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AIUIa) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) should all be contenders.
Crosswinds on the UAE’s plethora of flat, exposed roads notwithstanding, the GC battle will almost certainly be decided by the team time trial and the subsequent two summit finishes.
Both Jebel Hafeet and Jebel Jais are well-known to almost all the riders and the series of bunch sprints are an almost equally predictable feature.
Yet with no Pogačar and with Evenepoel eager to claim his first win in the rainbow bands, the UAE Tour will be entering new and entertaining territory every day.
Alasdair Fotheringham will be at the UAE Tour for Cyclingnews, providing exclusive news, interviews and race analysis.
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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
