Deja Vu for Adam Yates as he fails to dislodge Tadej Pogacar for a second year in a row at UAE Tour

As INEOS Grenadiers' climber Adam Yates kicked off another season, he's once again showed impressive form at the UAE Tour but he was faced with a competitor in the form of Tadej Pogacar who resisted his every attack. Yates finished the race in second place after a strong ascent to Jebel Hafeet, where he re-lived last year's scenario.

“Big thanks to all the guys. Today was the last mountain stage and we put a lot of effort into it. We’ve been working hard and well as a team all week, not just for GC but for the sprints too. I’ve really enjoyed being a part of it," Yates said wrapping up a hard week of work on the first World Tour event of the year.

“Today we came up short but not through any lack of effort. The first attack I went full gas until I couldn’t go any more. I had a look behind and was hoping [Pogacar] wasn’t there – but it’s pretty hard to drop a double Tour de France winner. I tried again right at the final and I still couldn’t get rid of him. On a finish like this he’s pretty quick in a sprint," he added. On the climb to Jebel Hafeet Adam Yates had 17 seconds to recover on the Slovenian prodigy and launched a blistering attack up the final climb with 3.4 kilometers to go that easily dropped the rest of the peloton survivors but wasn't enough to drop Pogacar. He tried a few more times but ultimately his stage ended the same way as in 2021 as Pogacar waited for the sprint and overpowered the Briton on a one-on-one dash to the line.

"All in all I think we can be happy with how we’ve raced – there’s plenty to build on. Luke [Plapp] is a young guy but you can see how strong he is. He’s got real potential and you can see how motivated he is. I’m sure he’s got a big future ahead of him," he concluded, regarding his teammate who made his debut in a World Tour race this week with a rather impressive performance.

Adam Yates started off his season strong and will keep ambitioning wins throughout the spring, with a stint at Paris-Nice and the Ardennes classics currently in the schedule for him, and possibly a return to the Volta a Catalunya to defend his 2021 title.