Tadej Pogacar: "Winning the UAE Tour is very important for our team"

Tadej Pogacar has conquered his second UAE Tour this afternoon ahead of another stage win on the race's queen stage. UAE Team Emirates have taken hold of the race in the mountains and have confirmed their status of main favourites to win their home race, as Pogacar starts off another season on an incredibly high level.

“I am delighted to have won the UAE Tour and to have conquered the finish line of Jebel Hafeet for the third time. It is a climb that suits my characteristics well, with steep slopes and a technical final stretch. In the final, with Almeida in the leading group, we set ourselves the goal of winning the stage, so João also tried to take advantage of his good condition to attack and get the win. However, Yates was on a great day and yolk him back: at that point, I concentrated on following him and winning the sprint," Pogacar said in a post-race interview.

Being the team's only home race throughout the year and having World Tour status, it is almost imperative that Pogacar would be at the start line. Despite having recently fought off a Covid infection, he has said that he did his best 10-minute effort in the time-trial, and won both mountain stages with an uncanny sprint. Although the gaps were not big it was a convincing performance by Pogacar who will be targeting a third Tour de France title this summer, as he held on to Adam Yates as the Briton set a number of brutal attacks up Jebel Hafeet, and later beat him in the sprint, exactly the same as last year.

"We found ourselves in a similar situation to last year, although I struggled to stay with Adam: his attacks are among the best in the world of cycling, so I’m happy I was able to follow him and get the jump on him in the sprint. Winning the UAE Tour is very important for our team, it’s fantastic to be able to celebrate with our sponsors: I thank everyone for the great contribution made this week," he concluded.