Pogačar takes over UAE Tour lead with summit finish victory

COVID-19 hasn’t interrupted Tadej Pogačar’s form, if Wednesday’s UAE Tour summit finish victory is anything to go by. Reigning champ Pogačar outsprinted GC rivals Adam Yates and Alexandr Vlasov to assume the race lead from Stefan Bissegger with three stages and another summit finish remaining.

After Sunday’s opener, when Jasper Philipsen claimed the first 2022 WorldTour victory, Mark Cavendish responded with a sprint win on Monday. Tuesday’s short, flat time trial saw world time trial champion Filippo Ganna defeated by Stefan Bissegger, giving EF-Education EasyPost its first triumph of the season (AG2R, DSM and Israel-Premier Tech and the only WorldTour squads without a 2022 win). Bissegger took over the race lead from Philipsen, with Ganna 7 seconds back and Philipsen, Tom Dumoulin, Pogačar and Pogla’s new teammate João Almeida all within 22 seconds.

Wednesday’s course

Jebel Jais in the Hajar Mountains was a long, steady climb at the end of a 181-km route with a couple of ripples in it.

The riders will soon start stage 4 of the #UAETour, which travels from Al Fujairah to Jebel Jais (18.7km, 5.7%), a steady but hard climb which should brings more changes to the general classification. pic.twitter.com/nkXu0qO4jg

— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) February 23, 2022

Only two riders bothered breaking away early in the stage. Mark Cavendish suffered a crash but returned to the peloton. After 158 km away, the fugitives were swept up on the lower slopes of Jebel Jais, with EF Education-Easypost pulling in the peloton.

Pogačar’s UAE-Emirates went to the front on the steady grades, whittling down the numbers. Dumoulin dropped with 6 km left to ride. Pogačar made a thrust with 8 km to go and Vlasov was able to do along, but Bissegger was not. The group was still around 40 strong. UAE-Emirates’ Rafal Majka surged away with a little group that Ineos brought back with 4.6 km to race.

Jan Hirt’s Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux grabbed the reins. The Czech put the Hirt on with 3 km remaining, making a selection. Yates then picked up the pace. Vlasov led into the steepest part with 1.5 km to go. A reformation created a leading group of 16 before the red kite.

Pogačar had a lead-out train heading towards the line. Lucas Plapp of Ineos tried to steal it but no dice. Pogla came around Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education) and held off his rivals for the victory.

The sprinters return to prominence on Thursday.

2022 UAE Tour Stage 4
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 4:49:24
2) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Ineos Emirates) s.t.
3) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.

2022 UAE Tour GC
1) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) 14:02:34
2) Filippo Ganna (Italy/Ineos Grenadiers) +0:02
3) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:15