PREVIEW | UAE Tour 2025 stage 4 - Milan, Merlier and Philipsen fight for second sprint win
Cycling
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 4.
Starting from Fujairah Qidfa Beach to reach Umm Al Quwain, the stage crosses the desert areas on the edge of the Hajar Mountains. Here it covers several stretches of highway until reaching Umm Al Quwain for the final sprint. The entire route is on wide, straight, well-paved roads through the desert.
The sprint is going to be a simple one, with two small roundabouts inside the final 2.7 kilometers but they are not big... Sprinter's paradise, it will all be about timing on this day, a simple sprint that will demand sharp tactics from all leadouts.
The Weather
Rain may even fall, which would make for a relatively interesting sight in the desert country. The wind will be blowing from the north with meaningful strength and this can potentially create tension with the possibility of crosswinds. Definitely throughout the day there will be some sections where this is a realistic threat and the GC teams will stay close to the front to avoid being caught out.
The Favourites
We've got a traditional bunch sprint awaiting and it gives us the chance to look at the leadouts present in this race, focusing on it's head. Below I put them down in the order of quality - and this will be crucial because with such pan-flat days, the speeds will be crazy in the finale and every single sprinters and their leadouts will try to be in front. Many won't be able to, and so emerging to the sprint in the right place will be crucial for deciding the winner.
Sam Welsford - Danny van Poppel - Ryan Mullen
Jonathan Milan - Simone Consonni - Edward Theuns - Daan Hoole
Tim Merlier - Bert van Lerberghe - Casper Pedersen
Jasper Philipsen - Jonas Rickaert - Robbe Ghys
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Dylan Groenewegen - Luka Mezgec - Max Walscheid - Elmar Reinders
Arvid de Kleijn - Maikel Ziljaard
Fabio Jakobsen - Tobias Lund Andresen
Fernando Gaviria, Gerben Thijssen, Phil Bauhaus, Matteo Malucelli, Lionel Taminiaux and Oded Kogut will also be sprinters to keep under eye - whilst the chaos of such a crowded bunh sprint can definitely at some point benefit these riders who will just look to follow the main sprinters instead of focusing on a big block.
Prediction UAE Tour 2025 stage 4:
*** Jonathan Milan, Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen
** Sam Welsford, Arvid de Kleijn
* Dylan Groenewegen, Fabio Jakobsen, Tobias Lund Andresen, Fernando Gaviria, Phil Bauhaus, Gerben THijssen, Matteo Malucelli
Pick: Jonathan Milan
How: Milan's leadout truly is incredible and although I think BORA's is just as good, the Italian will have the perfect combo to win again.
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
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- Let me help you. Alfredo BindaUpHill31-03-2025
- He'll certainly last it and prob ride his own race, at the front 😁
leedorney31-03-2025 - Gaio Primus Caesar Roglus, Rome is waiting for you, Imperator :-)).
maria2024202431-03-2025 - And he probably wasn’t even at the limit ;-) Have to wonder how much Mads could catch up if he’d tune his physique to be as sharp as MVDPs’Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Respect for giving Van Eetvelt credit there.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- He’s already a star for me for HAVING complained about it, the recent trend having been, let them then try to take advantage by making them sign NDAs ;-)Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- Agreed, but if it was a radio thing then all the riders should have the same story and it would be easy to call anyone out. Kind of surprised this isn’t cleared up half officially afterwards, just like the Alaphilippe divorce, seems like once something spreads on the net it kind of gets accepted that everyone wants to have their own truth so no-one bothers to contest anything that’s verifiable anymore, we all just move on.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- maybe. what makes that a LITTLE fishy is that they suddenly hit the gas and started hammering it. even mathieu, who i’ve never heard complain about ANYTHING (other than teenage girls waking him up and being spit on by belgians) was pretty hacked off about the race tactics after the split. i think he was upset for what his teammates had to do, not for the fact he ended up isolated as a result.OCexile31-03-2025
- It seems that in E3 it wasn’t legit to criticise teams that « took advantage » because there was no radio communication about the incident so they couldn’t know to slow down. Only one source so far but should be quite easy to verify.Mistermaumau31-03-2025
- mads SMOKED it at ghent! love that guy. he’s just the best interview ever, always smart and hilarious and with a biting intolerance for stupidity. happy for him. just as a secondary thought, consider that mvdp beat THAT version of mads by a full minute at E3 two days ago. the gap between pog/mvdp and even tho other GREAT riders like mads is kinda staggering to comprehend. this is a time in cycling history that’s certainly worth paying attention to while it lasts.OCexile31-03-2025