Ben O'Connor wins Jebel Jais summit finish at UAE Tour with perfectly timed attack - Jay Vine new race leader as McNulty cracks and Yates abandons
Cycling
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale played their cards perfectly on stage 3 of the UAE Tour. A late team attack saw Ben O'Connor soar to a brilliant stage victory. Jay Vine is the new race leader, whilst Adam Yates abandoned the race due to a crash.
A long day in the flat desert roads was not appetizing for breakaway opportunists. Mark Stewart and Silvan Dillier set to go up the road early on in the day. Echelons taking place with 96 kilometers to go however cut the gap incredibly fast.
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The duo was caught right away, but later on the pace slowed down as the winds also did. None of the big favourites were caught out and so the peloton was compact once again. With 67 kilometers to go then Stewart - the leader of the intermediate points classification which he seeks - attacked once again, this time with Dillier's teammate Jonas Rickaert.
The Briton ended up going off the front by himself at some point, then caught with 29 kilometers to go by a calm peloton. However, despite being calm, it saw a crash by Adam Yates, a big contender for the overall classification.
The Briton looked to be injured and suffering from a possible concussion, he later abandoned the race already inside the final climb to Jebel Jais. UAE Team Emirates set the early pace in the climb, without too much damage in the peloton.
Einer Rubio with 10 kilometers to go and Jan Hirt with 6 kilometers to go launched powerful attacks, but both brought back by UAE's Mikkel Bjerg who controlled the front of the group. Nicolas Prudhomme pushed the pace for Decathlon AG2R briefly, but the action then waited for the final kilometer.
Valentin Paret-Peintre attacked with teammate Ben O'Connor in the wheel, a very sharp attack and perfectly timed. The Australian had the power then to hold off the charge in the peloton which was equally fatigued at the time. O'Connor takes his second win of the season, with Jay Vine coming in second place, whilst Lennert van Eetvelt sprinted from the GC group behind to finish third. Vine has taken over the race lead with the bonifications he conquered.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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