General classification UAE Tour 2026 stage 1 - Isaac del Toro takes 10 seconds on Remco Evenepoel

Stage 1 of the UAE Tour turned out to be more important for the overall classification than most would've expected. Whilst on paper a stage for the sprinters, it has seen Isaac del Toro sprint to victory in Liwa Palace and already gather 10 seconds on Remco Evenepoel.

It is the result of a perfectly timed and executed sprint by the Mexican, who soared to victory in the uphill drag to the line ahead of Cees Bol. As Evenepoel did not take bonus seconds, he has missed out on this and now has a 10-second deficit on the Mexican ahead of tomorrow's time trial.

However the Mexican rider was not the only one gathering time on this finale. Cees Bol sits second on GC, but in third is Antonio Tiberi who surprised to sprint into third place on the day, taking 4 seconds himself for the GC. Ben Tulett and Lennert van Eetvelt took 2 and 1 bonus seconds in one of the stage's intermediate sprints and so have also climbed up the GC. There were no time gaps in the finale due to the crash which involved Jonathan Milan.