Pogačar lights up UAE Tour as team retain yellow in Andalucía and Algarve

It was a successful day of both offence and defence for UAE Team Emirates-XRG across the three concurrent stage races. Tadej Pogačar put on a show in the red jersey at the UAE Tour, whilst Pavel Sivakov and Jan Christen retained their yellow leader’s jerseys at the Vuelta a Andalucía and Volta ao Algarve, respectively.

At the UAE Tour, what began as a quiet day soon turned into a spectacle for both those at road side and those watching on from home. Needless to say, it was UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Pogačar who animated proceedings, with the race leader not content with just taking things easy.

With a small breakaway up the road and the peloton in nonchalent mood, the world champion quietly made his way up the side of the pack and with a tap on the back of his teammate Domen Novak, the gauntlet was thrown. Sensing a lull in the pace, Novak and Pogačar attacked with only 10km of racing in the legs.

Their move took a flabbergasted peloton by surprise, with just a few riders aware to the threat. As Novak and Pogačar stomped on the pedals, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG pair were joined by Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto), Victor Langellotti (Ineos Grenadiers), Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Wanty) and Roberto Carlos González (Solution Tech-Vini Fantini). Under Pogačar’s onus, this surprise attack saw the small group bridge across to the riders up the road and form the day’s definitive breakaway.

With the gap out to over two minutes by the first intermediate sprint, Pogačar made the most of the opportunity to sweep up three bonus seconds at the Al Qudra Cycle Track.

The breakaway was ultimately caught with 39km to ride, at which point Rune Herregodts and Jay Vine came to the fore to deliver UAE Team Emirates-XRG safely to the line – a job made all the more important by a late crash within the group. Safely surrounded by his teammates, Pogačar came over the finish line with his race lead extended by three seconds, and with 100km of breakaway action in his legs.

Another day, another job well done by Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates. Only two stages remain over the weekend.

Pogačar: “Me and Domen were coming back from a nature break and then it just happened that we rolled through the bunch. I was thinking of our ride at the Volta a Catalunya last year, which was good fun. Today, some riders followed, we formed a breakaway and then we just committed to it. It was a good day out trying to live the breakaway life!

“Today was a nice day out, a bit of hard racing and tomorrow I hope for a more quiet stage.”

UAE Tour general classification after stage 5

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 15:40:34

2. Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) +21″

3. Iván Romeo (Movistar) +27″

5. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +36″

Back in Europe, it was a largely uneventful day at both the Vuelta a Andalucía and the Volta ao Algarve, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG retaining the leader’s jerseys in both.

First up was the Vuelta a Andalucía, in which Julius Johansen guided his teammates to the front with 35km to ride, wary that crosswinds may play a role. Rather than riding in a reactive manner, Johansen and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates dropped the hammer with 25km to ride, in an attempt to tear the peloton apart.

Although the peloton remained largely in tact to the finish, race leader Pavel Sivakov remained at the head of proceedings and crossed the line safely to retain the yellow jersey. Equally, his teammates Tim Wellens and Marc Soler remained well-positioned in the general classification, with the latter holding the pink jersey as the best-placed Spanish rider.

Soler played an important role for Sivakov in the ‘golden kilometre’ within the finale. Offering a series of bonus seconds across a trio of sprint checkpoints, the golden kilometre saw the Spaniard claim three bonus seconds ahead of a number of Sivakov’s key rivals.

Across the border in Portugal, UAE Team Emirates-XRG began the day in style, holding the green points jersey through João Almeida, the white young rider’s jersey through António Morgado and the yellow leader’s jersey through stage 2 winner, Jan Christen.

The green jersey will be on stage 3 winner Jordi Meeus’ shoulders on Saturday, with the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider winning the sprint on Friday afternoon, but Christen retained his lead of the race by coming home within the peloton.

Christen’s teammate Rui Oliveira maneuvered himself well in the finale to offer himself a shot at the day’s podium, but his momentum was halted as the sprint unfolded. Whilst the Portuguese can count himself unlucky, his compatriot Morgado moved up to fourth position on GC to leave UAE Team Emirates-XRG placed handily, counting João Almeida in second overall.

Vuelta a Andalucía general classification after stage 4

1. Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 11:33:06

2. Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +23″

3. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +26″

5. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1’03”

6. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1’35”

Volta ao Algarve general classification after stage 4

1. Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 8:47:08

2. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +4″

3. Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) +13″

4. António Morgado (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +20″