"It's more comfortable to defend it then to have to attack" - Remco Evenepoel in the 'perfect' position after UAE time trial win

Remco Evenepoel was expected to win at the UAE Tour's time trial however he didn't expect to put in such large time gaps on his rivals perhaps, taking into consideration that the riders had only 12 kilometers on the menu. He is now in the race lead and has the space to race more conservatively if he so desires.

"It was pretty quick, the course completely flat, not super technical so it was the perfect course to try and ride that fast. Pretty happy to have done that today," the Belgian said in a post-race interview.

With a 56.1Km/h average, it was an incredibly fast time trial victory, the fastest of his career. After Isaac del Toro won the opening sprint stage to Liwa Palace, the two already entered the time trial with 10 seconds between each other, and Evenepoel had to recover them today. He did so quickly, and already had more than 30 seconds over the Mexican by the time the riders reached the intermediate point.

And at the finish line he took what was his first individual stage win at the race. "Little bit because we won the TTT in 2023 and then I was twice second in the uphill finishes so it's a good feeling to take my first individual stage win in the UAE Tour".

The gap to Del Toro: 42 seconds; Over 3 seconds per kilometer. "i think he did the maximum he could. Of course we knew that it was going to be a bit better to start early, but he won yesterday, I won today... So I think we both have a stage win in our pockets and no-one has any regrets, and from now on it's going to be the GC battle that will be open".

The gap into the Jebel Mobrah stage will be of 32 seconds already, a meaningful gap which, despite the tough course, is not easy to recover in normal circumstances to a rider such as Evenepoel - specially with the form he has been showing throughout the past few weeks.

This puts him in an ideal position, where he can play his cards conservatively, also taking into consideration that Del Toro should be the only rider in regular conditions to be at the same level as him uphill. "Specially with the very hard climbs, it's more comfortable to defend it then to have to attack so I think this is the perfect situation for us, perfect scenario, and now we have to defend it until Sunday".