PREVIEW | UAE Tour 2025 stage 5 - Can Merlier and Philipsen take revenge on Milan?
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 5.
Stage 5 will be similar to the previous day, with no difficulties to point and another sprinter certain at the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, the most technical finale of the race. The peloton will briefly go into the desert on this day so the chances of seeing splits exists, but it's an out-and-back course...
The race organizers didn't pull too many strings when it came to making this a complex race. The finale will be flat, this one with two right-handers inside the final kilometers to string things out a bit. The final sprint will be in a regular road with no obstacles to bother the fast men.
The Weather
Again some meaningful northern wind. In some sections it can be treacherous, there will be tension, but the start and end of the stage will be in more urban settings where although there won't be many direction changes, the wind will often be covered and so I don't think there will be echelons this time around.
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The Favourites
As it would turn out, the insight into the leadouts proved very valuable. This afternoon Lidl-Trek and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe went to the sprint head-to-head, and it seemed like a sprint where almost all of the contenders had their chance to fight for the win without being blocked - Arvid de Kleijn likely the biggest exception.
Sam Welsford - Danny van Poppel - Ryan Mullen
Jonathan Milan - Simone Consonni - Edward Theuns - Daan Hoole
So we have these two teams who did the best work, but with different outcomes, as Welsford completely cracked in the sprint - to be expected on hard days. But without echelons here, it would be easier and the Australian would stand a better chance. Despite being a chaotic flat finale, Milan delivered with the win, and unless Merlier or Philipsen start the sprint ahead of him (which is unlikely) we may see the same outcome on the day.
Tim Merlier - Bert van Lerberghe - Casper Pedersen
Jasper Philipsen - Jonas Rickaert - Robbe Ghys
Dylan Groenewegen - Luka Mezgec - Max Walscheid - Elmar Reinders
Arvid de Kleijn - Maikel Ziljaard
Fabio Jakobsen - Tobias Lund Andresen
Large leadouts can work against the sprinter, as was seen today with Jayco. They entered the final 1.5 kilometers with 5 riders and Groenewegen was so far back that he was swallowed by the peloton. Experienced leadouts had maximum two riders ahead of their sprinter. The three Dutchmen all stand a chance, although they will need a perfect day to be able to take a win here.
Dan McLay was fourth on stage 4, getting the opportunity to sprint for himself after Olav Kooij's abandon, and he thrives in these chaotic situations. Phil Bauhaus, Fernando Gaviria, Gerben Thijssen, Matteo Malucelli and Oded Kogut will also be names to watch.
Prediction UAE Tour 2025 stage 5:
*** Jonathan Milan, Tim Merlier, Jasper Philipsen
** Arvid de Kleijn, Dan McLay
* Sam Welsford, Dylan Gronewegen, Fabio Jakobsen, Phil Bauhaus, Fernando Gaviria, Gerben Thijssen, Matteo Malucelli
Pick: Jonathan Milan
How: Another regular bunch sprint.
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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