Adam Yates promised he would bounce back in the UAE Tour with a vengeance on Sunday’s final summit finish of Jebel Hafeet, and the Briton duly did so in style, dropping race leader Remco Evenepoel and simultaneously clocking the fastest-ever ascent of the climb.
Yates was clocked at 25:53 for the punishing 10.7-kilometre ascent, four seconds faster than the record he and Tadej Pogačar jointly set for Jebel Hafeet back in 2021.
Pogačar won that day, but two years on, Yates repeated his 2020 triumph in the UAE Tour’s most emblematic climb.
Yates' victory enabled him to scrape home onto the podium as well, ousting Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) by a single second to take third place overall. However, in what was a tight three-way battle for the runner-up spot behind overall winner Evenepoel, Yates was unable to take second place away from Luke Plapp, who finished just one second ahead.
Already racing without two times winner Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates collectively had a very difficult start to their home race when they were badly caught out in the crosswinds on stage 1.
But combined with Juan Sebastian Molano’s stage win on Thursday, as well as winning the team ranking, the home side managed to produce a notable comeback, with Yates bringing down the curtain in the best way possible.
“I said to somebody at the start of the day, we didn’t have anything to lose,” Yates told reporters afterwards.
“We were quite far down on GC and so if we tried something at the bottom and it didn’t work, then we could still fight for the [stage] win.
“The guys did an amazing job, we pushed full gas in the first 10 minutes or so, together with riders from the other teams, and it worked out well.”
With notable support from teammates Stake Vegard Langen and Brandon McNulty in particular, after UAE had shredded the field to perhaps a couple of dozen riders, Yates was in the perfect position to blast off.
“I attacked once, only Remco and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) could follow, and then Remco had to pull because he was in the lead, and everyone else was dropped. Then I decided to attack one more time, and that was it,” Yates explained.
“When I attacked the second time, I knew it was the best moment because it was the steepest part of the climb, so that suited me the most.
“And then when you come round the corner, it flattens out a bit so I could hopefully get some rest. But there was a headwind,” he added with a chuckle, “so actually, there wasn’t much rest. But in the end, I kept pushing, and I got there.”
Yates said there was no question of his being overly concerned at having Evenepoel for company, when he was asked if he was afraid of the World Champion when the two went clear. Rather with an advantage of 1:14 on Yates before the stage and less than half the climb to go, barring total disaster, there was only so much damage the Briton could inflict.
“Fear is not a word I’d use, he knew what to do. He knew the other guys in the GC were well behind him. I was quite far down behind him on GC, and with three or four kilometres left to climb, he was never going to lose one minute. But I attacked one more time, and it managed to work.”
As for breaking the record for Jebel Hafeet, Yates said he had no particular feeling that he was racing with exceptionally high power, particularly as Evenepoel did not lose that much time on the climb.
“It’s always the same, in the last two or three years with Tadej, I tried to drop him as well, that was also quite difficult, so I think it was roughly the same, to be honest,” he admitted.
“In terms of power, I haven’t checked yet, but I think it’s probably quite similar. Maybe my condition is a little bit better.”
What has changed since 2021, of course, is that Pogačar and he are now racing for the same squad, and as a UAE Team Emirates racer, Yates said this was a notable success.
“Even before I joined the team, they already really trusted me and believed in me and wanted me to win, and that’s something special when that happens,” he said. “So, for me, it’s a pleasure to ride for the team. And home team and a home win - that’s amazing.”
