Shortly after the official starting shot, Jakob Egholm (Trek-Segafredo) and Luca Rastelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) took off. She built a nice lead of 7 minutes.
The 2 adventurers then started the final climb with a small lead. At the start of the UAE Tour time trial and dethrones strong Philipsen | UAE Tour 2022″>Jebel Jais, they were nabbed by the EF Education-EasyPost-ruled peloton.
The first striking image on the final climb was Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) who could no longer keep up the pace. The Dutchman rode a good time trial yesterday, but had to let go early on the final climb. Leader Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) suffered the same fate and already knew there that he would lose his leader’s jersey.
Rafal Majka (UAE) put pressure on the peloton several times in function of Tadej Pogacar. The Pole placed a gear, but each time other riders were able to make the connection.
Jan Hirt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) also only tried it after his teammate Rein Taaramäe was at the head of the pack, but the classification men were able to follow.
In the last kilometer everything came together and at 500 meters from the finish Luke Plapp (Ineos) accelerated which gave his teammate Filippo Ganna a hard time. Rafal Majka popped the hole.
Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost) started the sprint, but Tadej Pogacar was able to take over immediately and everyone sprinted out of the wheel.
Adam Yates (Ineos) came in 2nd and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) completed the podium. Tadej Pogacar will start tomorrow in the leader’s jersey in the 5th stage of the UAE Tour. In the standings he is 2 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna.
The victory over the Jebel Jais is Tadej Pogacar’s first this season. “It feels incredible to win,” Pogacar said in the flash interview.
Pogacar could count on his teammates on the final climb. In the final Rafal Majka brought him to the finish in a seat. “It was a hard final, but the team did a really good job and kept me out of the wind and problems all day.”
“It was a fast climb, with a lot of attacks left and right, but every time my team brought everything back together and I was able to sprint for the win. I gave everything I had and that was enough for the win,” he said. the.
The Slovenian not only takes the win today, but will also start tomorrow in the leader’s jersey. “It is very nice to not only grab the stage win, but also to be able to put on the leader’s jersey and start the season in a good way.”
