Pogacar comes through crosswinds, a sprint, and a late puncture to extend UAE Tour lead

The fifth stage of the UAE Tour, as was the case with the opening two, figured to be another largely straightforward day for the sprinters, barring some dicing in the wind.

In the end, the results sheet would show that, with Alpecin-Fenix's Jasper Philipsen once again triumphing in a mass sprint finish, but the preceding 182 kilometres wasn't such a straightforward day out, least of all for race leader Tadej Pogačar.

The UAE Team Emirates leader, in red after his victory on Jebel Jais on Wednesday, had an eventful stage from the start, despite the pan flat-profile seeming like a day he'd spend quietly in the peloton.

"Not a reason to panic. It happens," Pogačar said after the finish, when just seven kilometres earlier he had to chase back on to a peloton in full flight following a rear wheel puncture at seven kilometres to go.

One, two, four men were called back to help him, and he was back at the front with just four kilometres left before the finish. It was a moment of controlled panic.

"I believe in Mikkel [Bjerg]. He brought me back and all the other guys, so it was a perfect team job again. So, I was not stressed at all," he added, dismissive of what from the outside at least, had looked like a high-stress situation.

The rear flat was far from the first dramatic moment Pogačar had been involved with during the stage. Some 130 kilometres earlier, after 40 kilometres of racing, there were the crosswinds which split the peloton.

Pogačar and his UAE teammates made the front group of 35 riders as Ineos Grenadiers' Filippo Ganna and Adam Yates flailed behind. With the early breakaway caught in the chaos, the first intermediate sprint came fast, with green jersey Philipsen jumping away to scoop up some bonus points.

Pogačar was there too, a non-sprinter but aggressive rider keen to add a handful of seconds of lead where he could, sensing the opportunity and so taking second place and two bonus seconds ahead of Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe).

"Alpecin-Fenix today really felt great, I think, and they were attacking all the stage," Pogačar said later. 

"We were present in every attack with the team. Once again, it was great teamwork, and we came with 35 or something riders to the bonus sprint. I saw the opportunity to take some seconds. But Jasper was just faster."

Commenting on the echelons which had marked the early part of stage, and which teams had attempt to exploit to no avail later on, Pogačar compared racing with the crosswinds on the wide highways in the UAE to the narrower roads of the Tour de France.

"Echelons are a pretty scary thing," he admitted. 

"Here in the UAE, if you're strong you can move up because it's big roads. But in Europe if you're not in the right position, you can't do anything even if you're strong.

"Echelons are a big thing in cycling — you need to take [great] care, move with the team, stay together, and be in the right position always."