PREVIEW | UAE Tour 2025 stage 7 - Tadej Pogacar showdown expected at Jebel Hafeet
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 7.
The classic mountain stage of the UAE Tour. In the first part, the route winds through Al Ain, visiting many of its landmarks (Al Ain University, Al Qattara, Al Hili), and then takes a long desert ride to the west until it returns to Green Mubazzarah. Here begins the final ascent of Jebel Hafeet, which with its 10 km section will be the final judge of the race.
Aside from winds there is nothing to fear from the day. It's a short day on the bike with only 176 kilometers on the menu, but the final ascent dictates this to be the queen stage most likely. The numbers aren't brutal, but very often very big differences are created in the slopes of Jebel Hafeet. 10.8 kilometers at 6.6% are the official details, but the gradients aren't as consistent as Jebel Jais.
In it's middle 7 kilometers the grades average 8% consistently, reaching as high as 11% with some steep hairpins included. Usually the main moves happen there, in what is a wide, completely exposed road which adds to the difficulty. The final kilometers have a couple of flat and even downhill sections, with some steep ramps inbetween. The final sprint will be uphill, although the late final corner has in the past seen crashes so caution must be had.
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Prediction UAE Tour 2025 stage 7:
*** Tadej Pogacar
** Felix Gall, Oscar Onley, Lennert van Eetvelt, Giulio Ciccone
* Pello Bilbao, Finn Fisher-Black, Carlos Rodríguez, Pablo Castrillo, Einer Rubio, Matthew Riccitello, Harold Tejada
Pick: Tadej Pogacar
How: Confortable solo win, but the headwind will mean an early attack is not so likely.
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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