UAE Tour: Pogacar takes control on Jebel Hafeet

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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) extended his overall lead at the UAE Tour, outfoxing Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) at the summit of Jefel Hafeet after surviving a string of blistering accelerations from the British climber.

In a case of déjà-vu after their two battles on the race’s marquee climb last year - when they each won once - the pair resoundingly distinguished themselves from the rest of the field. 

There were a full 48 seconds to the final podium spot, as Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo) led home the first batch of a seven-man group that included João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who’d started the day second at five seconds. 

Pogačar’s victory was the product of brains rather than brawn. Yates went hammer and tongs on the second half of the 10.8km final climb and Pogačar, who didn’t need to attack since he started the day 39 seconds ahead, visibly suffered as he was forced to respond to the repeated accelerations. 

However, when the road dipped downhill in the final 400 metres, Yates eased off the pedals for the first time, and Pogačar pounced. Yates scrambled in response but that momentary lapse was all Pogačar needed to take the lead into the tight final bend and finish it off.

“I knew exactly what I needed to do in the sprint. I started early because with the two corners, it’s hard for the guy behind to come past so it was an advantage to start the sprint first,” he said. 

“We wanted a win, and we got one,” he added. “All I had to do was respond to attacks. It was super hard but I’m super happy to win.”

With 10 bonus seconds for the stage win, Pogačar extended his overall lead to 43 seconds over Yates, with Almeida, who placed 6th on the stage, now third at 1:03. 

Chris Harper is fourth overall at 1:43 thanks to his 9th place finish, which saw his Jumbo-Visma teammate Sepp Kuss, who’d helped spark the fireworks on the climb, pace him late on. Neilson Powless (EF Education-Nippo) placed eighth on the stage to move to fifth at 1:45 - the only other rider within two minutes of Pogačar. 

Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), and Florian Stork (Team DSM) were the other riders who finished up in the group behind the leading duo, although they had already been wiped out of overall contention in the stage 1 crosswinds. 

The wind threatened again for much of the flat preamble to the final climb, but the peloton made it there as one, before UAE Team Emirates set the tempo on the lower slopes and Ineos exploded the front group half-way up. Their leaders soon emerged head and shoulders above the rest and played out a memorable two-up tussle. 

Thanks to his superior time trial, however, Pogačar is head and shoulders above Yates in the overall standings, and it will take something special to deny him the title, with only one climbing stage remaining in the form of the comparatively gentle Jebel Jais summit finish on stage 5.  

“There are still four stages. Anything can happen,” Pogačar insisted. “There’s echelons and still one more climb. It will be a hard battle until the end.”

How it unfolded

Before the decisive summit finish, the peloton faced 155 kilometres of pan-flat roads, looping out north into the desert before turning back towards the hills. A successful breakaway was always going to be against the odds, and there were only two volunteers in Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Tony Gallopin (AG2R Citroën). 

The pair slipped clear early on, with a minimum of fuss, and built a lead of nearly seven minutes as the peloton enjoyed a calm opening couple of hours. 

Things started to heat up with just under 100km to go, when the route turned west, out of the headwind and into a 20km section of crosswind. First Ineos – through stage 2 winner Filippo Ganna – ramped up the pace, before Bora-Hansgrohe joined in to try and split the bunch. UAE Team Emirates, Bahrain Victorious, and BikeExchange were all well positioned up at the front but, despite a period of high tension, the peloton remained in tact. 

The route soon turned south, with the wind blowing from behind, and things settled down again. By that point, the gap to the leading duo had been slashed to just over three minutes. There was another injection of pace 50km from the foot of the final climb, cutting the gap to 2:15, but a truce was called after 10km or so and the still-full peloton took its foot off the gas. 

De Gendt and Gallopin continued to rotate quietly and took their advantage back out to 4:30, but the next swing of the pendulum came when the route tracked east towards the base of the climb. Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe accelerated at the front of the bunch but the wind was still not strong enough to split the race. Still, they were now on the approach to the climb, and the pace was naturally lifted, with teams getting organised into position. 

The second intermediate sprint came just before the climb, with 13.5km to go. Gallopin led De Gendt through, while the peloton followed at 1:35, Michael Mørkøv (Deceuninck-QuickStep) grabbing the last remaining bonus second as the GC riders kept their powder dry for the climb. 

At the base of the climb, Gallopin dug in while De Gendt sat up and slipped back into the bunch. UAE Team Emirates set the pace on the lower slopes, cutting the Frenchman’s lead to 30 seconds with 10km to go before catching him 8.3km from the top. 

By that point, around 40 riders remained. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), a prominent performer here in the past, was dropped, as Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) drifted towards the back of the group, although European champion Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos) was still there. A couple of kilometres later, the group thinned further, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) – a former winner on this mountain – dropped. 

UAE Team Emirates continued to dictate, with Jan Polanc, Rafał Majka, and Davide Formolo in front of Pogačar. Polanc pulled over with 6.9km to go, as Ineos had strength in numbers just behind the home team. Majka upped the pace and Froome was among those to lost contact, along with Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) and Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe). 

With 6km to go, there was a turning of the tide, as Ineos hit the front. Majka pulled over, leaving just Formolo with Pogačar. Brandon Rivera came to the fore for the British team, who also had Ivan Sosa and Dani Martínez with Yates. Martínez soon hit the front and blew the front group to pieces with 5.5km to go. Within the blink of an eye, just 11 riders remained up front. 

Martínez finished his turn with 5km to go and Kuss produced a brief acceleration, drawing out Yates and Pogačar. Powless moved up to them, before a brief lapse led Almeida, Higuita, Buchmann, Stork, and Vanhoucke back in. 

However, the initial trio soon proved stronger than the rest as Kuss upped the tempo again with 4.3km to go. Yates then put in a huge acceleration. Pogačar clung to his wheel but Kuss had to relent. Yates sprung from the saddle and kicked again with 3.7km to go. Pogačar held firm but was clearly suffering. The next surge came with 2.7km to go, and Pogačar himself rose from the saddle to respond on a particularly steep ramp. 

Behind them, Kuss rejoined the small chase group, to which his teammate Chris Harper was trying to claw his way back. Buchmann was dropped from that group before Almeida accelerated and drew Powless and Vanhoucke away, although that group would reform again. 

With 1.5km to go, Yates and Pogačar were a huge 40 seconds clear. Yates tried one last time to drop the Tour de France champion but to no avail. The brief moment of respite he did allow himself turned out to be costly, as Pogačar punched to the front on the downhill. Yates produced a spirited response, but by then it was too late.