Pogacar powers into UAE Tour lead

ABU DHABI: Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar opened his 2025 account with victory in the third stage of the UAE Tour on Wednesday.

Slovenia’s world champion, watched on by his parents, triumphed in a sprint after a 20km climb to top the general classification. The 2021 and 2022 UAE Tour winner was followed across the line by Briton Oscar Onley and Austria’s Felix Gall at the end of the 181km ride from Ras Al-Khaimah to Jebel Jais.

Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates set him up perfectly for the stage honours, injecting ideal pace for their rainbow-jersey wearing leader to pounce. “My teammates executed the plan really well,” said Pogacar, who took over the race leader’s red jersey from Ineos’ Joshua Tarling.

“We spoke to Ineos to see if they wanted to defend Tarling’s jersey. It wasn’t obvious so we had to set the pace of the race on our own,” he added. Tarling’s challenge faded over one kilometre from the finish and he is now placed second overall, 18 seconds off the new leader.

“To keep wearing the rainbow jersey I had to hope that Tarling remained in the lead. But the red suits me well too,” Pogacar smiled. Thursday’s fourth stage is suited to the sprinters in the peloton like Belgian Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan, winner of the first stage.