Tadej Pogacar extends lead at UAE Tour despite nearly loosing time with late puncture

It was a roller-coaster day for race leader Tadej Pogacar as he came very close to loosing his race lead due to a very badly timed mechanical. However, the Slovenian came out of the fifth stage of the UAE Tour with his lead extended.

“We didn’t panic when I punctured, I believed in the guys and they brought me back safe to the bunch. It was a perfect team job," Pogacar said in a post-race interview. The Slovenian had a strong day out where he was in the front echelons both times the race split, albeit with no direct gain from them. In the intermediate sprint at Umm al Quwan he then went on to take two seconds to extend his lead over Filippo Ganna and his other rivals.

"Alpecin were attacking during the whole stage and we managed to be present in every attack. We arrived to the bonus sprint with about 35 riders and I saw the opportunity to go for it. And to get a few bonus seconds but Jasper is just that bit faster! We had some echelons but here its wide roads so you can move up a bit easier. But you still have to be careful," he added.

With six kilometers to go alarm bells rang as Pogacar was seen drifting off the back of the peloton as the camera focused on his rear wheel. Despite a slow bike change, with the help of his teammates, Mikkel Bjerg mainly, and the race convoy where he managed to draft, he returned to the peloton two kilometers later.

Tomorrow should not have high wind action, but Pogacar has proven to always be ready if it does happen. At Jebel Hafeet he will have to defend his lead but if he keeps on the run of form he's showing, it will be a very complicated task to defeat him.