"A time trial with two different halves" - Joshua Tarling on stupendous UAE Tour win
Cycling
Joshua Tarling is a rider who has evolved a lot in 2024 but in the field of the time-trials he always found himself getting beaten in the main races. Today the tide has been turned, as the British time-trial champion dominated at the UAE Tour, in the discipline that has seen him achieve the most in his still young career.
"I was very unlucky at the end of last season. I often finished second, so I really needed a win. I am therefore very happy with this win," Tarling said in a post-race interview. "Hopefully I have some self-confidence back now".
"I went to Teide with the team during the winter and we have a great mindset as a group. That was also clearly visible yesterday, with Kwiatkowski's victory. He got the ball rolling for us". Although Egan Bernal has crashed and gotten injured once again, it is a good few days for the British team who has needed some big wins and momentum for a long time.
Tarling's triumph in this ITT did not come as a surprise, he was the main favourite, but the pressure was also on his shoulders and with the imminent threat of a very strong UAE that completed the entire podium on this exact same course last year - and of course, Tadej Pogacar's presence - it was no small feat what the 21-year old has done.
He won with 13 seconds over Stefan Bissegger, whilst Tadej Pogacar wash pushed 18 seconds back. "It was very windy at the beginning. Headwind all the time, and then there was a section with a lot of crosswind. The first part was really the hardest. It felt like a time trial with two different halves".
The lead that Tarling carved today may even give him hopes of potentially holding on to the race lead on stage 3 as the riders tackle Jebel Jais, the constant ascents suits the Briton well and after his climbing evolution last season, he could try to hang on with the GC group until the very last kilometers.
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YESSSSS JO⚡H!
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) February 18, 2025
Josh Tarling storms to TT victory on stage 2 and takes the overall lead at #UAETour 🙌
What a performance 👊 pic.twitter.com/wo2uwN4xqO
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- Powless just got “better” at 28, Rog hasn’t gotten worse at 35, GT only really started getting going in GT late twenties. Give the guy a chance, he’s not even been let off the leash yet, remember what Jonas achieved GT wise since being given leader status.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Jorgenson turns 26 this year, he won't get much bettervappaxbipmv02-04-2025
- i completely agree. wouter has been through a meat grinder. he’s such a class act, a man of such character that he would never complain or make excuses, that’s why it’s so infuriating to hear him spoken about as if he was failing, choking, or in any way not fulfilling what’s expected of him. i get it, he’s a PRO, so part of what he gets paid for is to be a target for anyone with an opinion. fair enough. MY opinion is that he needs TIME to overcome a pile of injuries. i hope he gets there, because he deserves a pile of wins.OCexile02-04-2025
- I just went through the list of events in his recent riding history listed in another article (so not including his very expensive legal affair and any potential trouble at home) and it’s a half miracle he’s still riding at all. He's outfallen Roglič for sure, who always came away RELATIVELY unharmed.Mistermaumau02-04-2025
- ugh. slice and dice this any way you like. if you’re one of the belgians TRYING to believe wout is going to be in the fight at de ronde and roubaix, this is an ice cold dose of reality. my opinion is that nobody — ESPECIALLY his own team — should have been fanning any expectations of wout at this point after what he’s endured.OCexile02-04-2025
- I guess when you’re high, you don’t (need to) focus on anything ;-)Mistermaumau02-04-2025
- True but things also change, Primoz will get older, Remco crashes, MJ isn’t peaking yet and people can improve their weaknesses faster than others improve their strengths, cf MVDP climbing, JV TTing.Mistermaumau02-04-2025
- Sorry, yeah doesn’t look great but it seems all the recent context gets completely ignored in order to make a big story out of this. Honestly, did anyone at this point really expect Wout to suddenly have recovered all his missing form? Respect to Powless but he’s no nobody, his 2022-2023 presaged something like this. Yes they messed up but it also nearly worked, impossible to know how good your opponent is going to be in such a situation unkess it’s an in form Pog or MVDP. I’d not see this as a disaster but a really bad call, there are positives, they distanced a very strong 2nd group (Mads might be saving himself though) and Wout was very close to a place he’s not heen in a long time. I’d call that progress. Only a few meters would have led to completely different headlines. Why make everything so boack and white? Wout obviously understands and it is in part everyone putting all that pressure on him that led to him making a bad call. That said, had he let his mates go for the win (no guarantee either) héd have received different criticism.Mistermaumau02-04-2025
- Pogi is just had 9 days of racing.
James2631802-04-2025 - I’d advise doing brain scans during max efforts, you never know, he may be having micro blackouts without realising it at the time and with a crash you tend not to remember it after either. Like when you nod off a split second while driving, or realise you can’t remember any details from the last few km.Mistermaumau02-04-2025