Although it was a mostly flat day with virtually nothing technical to it (as most of the racing in the UAE), it was not an uneventful day.
Juan Sebastián Molano was the most notable rider affected by a scary crash on the opening day of the race, seemingly having a tire explode as he drank from his bidon whilst sitting in Tadej Pogacar's wheel. He was left with a lot of abrasions but no fractures, as said by the team following the stage. Visma sprinter
Olav Kooij was also reportedly ill on the day and has since been
confirmed to abandon the race, whilst Jayco's
Chris Harper did not start the race after coming down with illness leading up to the race.
Stage 2
The time-trial itself saw no crashes, as expected, but three riders did not start on the day. UAE's Juan Sebastián Molano naturally has succumbed to his injuries after the high-speed crash, suffering mostly from an injured ankle. Visma had Olav Kooij and Julien Vermote abandon as well before the start, having fallen ill.
Stage 3
Nothing meaningful has happened during the stage, but the race has lost American Sean Quinn who has been suffering from knee pain.
Stage 4
Einer Rubio and Ben Zwiehoff have crashed during the day, whilst Team Visma | Lease a Bike have saw Tom Gloag abandon due to a run of illness in the team.
Stage 5
Sergio Higuita did not start today's stage after coming down with illness overnight. Simone Consonni crashed early in the stage. The race was marked by two mass crashes in the finale. On the first, just outside 3 kilometers to go the likes of Carlos Rodríguez, Felix Gall, Paul Seixas, Pablo Castrillo and Victor Langellotti (all GC contenders) have crashed. Ben Swift and Michael Leonard of INEOS are also reported to have been involved, as was Movistar's Will Barta.
In the crash that took place in the final kilometer, several other riders went down, including Movistar's Fernando Gaviria and Quick-Step's Bert van Lerberghe. Whilst not confirmed, the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen, Gerben Thijssen (alongside Alpecin leadout man Jonas Rickaert) may have gone down in the final kilometer.
Stage 6
The previous stage's crashes led to several big names not starting off the penultimate stage of the race. Fernando Gaviria, Dylan Groenewegen, Paul Seixas and Victor Langellotti all abandoned due to those injuries, whilst Lotto's Lars Craps also did not start due to effects of a crash earlier in the season.
Stage 7
Carlos Rodríguez and
Matteo Malucelli failed to start the stage after withstanding tough injuries from the crashes of previous stages. Early in the day,
Chris Froome, Niklas Behrens and
Arvid de Kleijn had to abandon due to a mass crash in the peloton.
Joshua Tarling, Rainer Kepplinger, Jack Rootkin-Gray and
Gijs van Hoecke were also involved in the fall.
Rootkin-Gray would abandon later, as did Torstein Traeen, Adried Petit, Dan McLay and Maikel Ziljaard.