From February 17th to 23rd, the UAE Tour 2025 will take place. It is the second World Tour stage-race of the year and will feature plenty of stars in the field of the sprinters and also climbers - headlined by Tadej Pogacar. We preview stage 2.
Stage 2 is an Individual Time Trial that takes place entirely inside Al Hudayriyat Island. The route is very fast and is characterized only by a few right angle bends and two U-turns. The road is perfectly flat, wide and with sweeping curves, which will allow riders to maintain very high speeds (wind permitting).
Stage 2 (ITT): Hudaryriat Island - Hudayriat Island, 12.1 kilometers
It is an important day for the overall classification. Before the race reaches the mountains, this day will set some order amongst the climbers, and will dictate those who have to go on the attack and those who can already race in the defensive from this moment onwards.
The Weather
Map UAE Tour 2025 stage 2
Some northwestern wind but it won't make much of a difference, the riders pretty much go on a loop.
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The Favourites
Joshua Tarling - The Briton is an expert on these distances and he will certainly be motivated to take the win. Against a Pogacar and UAE he will have a big challenge but certainly one he can come out as the winner. He's looking for a big win and this would be one way to fulfill that ambition - although we were left on the unknown regarding his form after INEOS abandoned the Etoile de Bessèges.
Tadej Pogacar - Always a man in form and always a man to consider. In all honesty, this isn't a time-trial that suits the Slovenian very well, it's pan-flat and so his W/Kg will matter little here. Still, even on the least fitting time-trial you have to consider him a victory contender, regardless of the competition.
UAE can still take the win however but not with Pogacar. Last year they finished with the entire Top3 and with a sizeable gap over the rest. Second and third on that day were Mikkel Bjerg and Jay Vine who come here with ambitions of also performing well on this day and from UAE you can expect anything.
The battle for the win will be above but there are a few riders who will still want to fight for a strong result on the day and are prioritizing it this week such as Lidl-Trek's Daan Hoole who looked mighty strong in Valencia; his teammate Jonathan Milan who with no doubt can also put down serious watts on a course like this... Specially with the leader's jersey on his shoulders.
Finn Fisher-Black, Bruno Armirail, Stefan Bissegger, Maikel Ziljaard, Josef Cerny, Rune Herregodts, Iván Romeo, Johan Price-Pejtersen and Max Walscheid are amongst the outsiders who will be looking for a possible Top5. Most of the GC contenders don't have an extremely high TT level and so the gaps will be small (except for Pogacar who should already build a good buffer).
Prediction UAE Tour 2025 stage 2:
*** Joshua Tarling, Tadej Pogacar
** Mikkel Bjerg, Jay Vine, Jonathan Milan
* Daan Hoole, Finn Fisher-Black, Carlos Rodríguez, Bruno Armirail, Stefan Bissegger, Rune Herregodts, Iván Romeo, Max Walscheid
** Mikkel Bjerg, Jay Vine, Jonathan Milan
* Daan Hoole, Finn Fisher-Black, Carlos Rodríguez, Bruno Armirail, Stefan Bissegger, Rune Herregodts, Iván Romeo, Max Walscheid
Pick: Joshua Tarling
Original: Rúben Silva
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The UAE Tour is now just days away, we sat down with some of the riders taking part to get their thoughts 💭 #UAETour @AbuDhabiSC@ihc__official@Mubadala@NakheelOfficial@aldar pic.twitter.com/m0S4ki4ob8
— UAE Tour Official (@uae_tour) February 13, 2025
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
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.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
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)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
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