"Winning the stage is the most important thing" - Remco Evenepoel has clear vengeance goal for Jebel Hafeet

The UAE Tour finishes atop the climb to Jebel Hafeet today, which will decide the overall classification. Whilst Antonio Tiberi and Isaac del Toro will fight for the overall win; Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe will have their own sub plot as they will chase the stage win with Remco Evenepoel, in hopes that the Belgian has managed to recover from his Jebel Mobrah implosion.

"I'm definitely going for the stage today. That's the most important thing. The final podium is a nice bonus," Evenepoel said to Sporza. "The foot of the climb is only 10 kilometers from the summit, so you can't do much with 25 minutes to spare. On the other hand, you can't go too crazy with 25 minutes to spare, because with the heat and the tailwind, it's quite difficult".

The climb is one where the Belgian knows he can perform, having finished second up it en route to winning the overall back in 2023. Three years later, he is a considerably stronger climber; but the heat and the race's placement in February still pose some obstacles to some riders such as him when it comes to the long uphill efforts.

But it can't be played down. If Evenepoel has his best level, he can take the win. "We'll have to play it tactically, because it's a good opportunity to go for the stage. But we don't want to get overconfident. The best plan is to let another team take the initiative at the bottom and adjust our race accordingly."

Evenepoel is not thinking of a bad day on the race's sixth stage and besides the stage win, he is also thinking about recovering some positions in the overall classification. "That would be a nice bonus; the gap to fifth place isn't that big. The top three will be further along, but we're definitely going for a stage win. That also gives us 10 bonus seconds. Winning the stage is the most important thing today."

Earlier in the week he complained about the heat in the hotel room which made it a difficult night and interestingly, he was woken up last night once again. However this time around, it seems like it was an hotel-wide alarm that set off, and that all teams were present and affected equally. "The alarm did go off at 3 a.m. in the room, but that was the case for everyone, so it wasn't a problem," he joked.

"Well, at least the stage win is something we aim for. Otherwise, it's better not to start. And I believe if he is well recovered, he should be able to fight for the win as well," team DS Klaas Lodewyck shared in words to Cyclingnews after stage 5. Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe have won the time trial with the Belgian so they won't leave the race empty handed, but in the bigger picture that is not enough to make their race.

Lodewyck, who's been with Evenepoel for many years, is confident that he can bounce back in the second mountain stage. "Absolutely, I think Remco is one of the best guys at bouncing back. For sure, we talked a lot already about what could have been wrong on stage 3, so the past two days, we were really looking forward to Saturday's stage. I think tomorrow, yes, he will just go for it, and we'll see how far we get."

He believes UAE will pick up the pace for Isaac del Toro and Evenepoel has the space to race more tactically, depending on the race scenario of his rivals. "In my opinion, the pressure is really on UAE to go, at least for the stage, because they could also gamble on the stage win or just try to gain some time on Tiberi. So I think for us anyway, we will have to adapt a bit to their strategy, and mainly focus on Del Toro, I would say."

The Belgian sports director spoke in detail about the weeks that came before the UAE, and Evenepoel's racing evolution: "Mallorca was quite low level race, I would say, but then in Valencia, he competed against guys like Tiberi and so on and made a really good impression. Also, there, for example, Almeida and McNulty had to let him go, and it really mattered, so there he was really good".

But when it mattered the most, the queen stage at UAE, the then race leader did not perform. He lost contact in the first kilometer of the climb after following the initial acceleration of Felix Gall and Antonio Tiberi, and lost over 2 minutes to the Italian at the finish line. He fell to 11th in the overall classification, without a shot at getting back to the top step.

"It's just a few factors that played a role in his performance, where he couldn't follow the best on Wednesday. First of all, the long, steep gradient of the climb was not in his favour, but also some stuff that has discussed. "But then also, I think if you watch some of his competitors, they have been on high altitude and Teide already for three weeks, so they really have trained for those long efforts," he points out.

Evenepoel will only do this after the UAE and ahead of the Volta a Catalunya, where he will have a more accurate assessment of his pure climbing ability. "I think Remco will go there now, so for sure, we're going to see another one when he comes back."