Del Toro’s explosive accelerations seal UAE Tour double on Jebel Hafeet as Evenepoel suffers another tough day

After the ‘new’ Jebel Mobrah, Saturday brought climbing test number two in this year’s UAE Tour. The battle for the overall win looked set to come down mainly to Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Del Toro, with the Italian defending a 21-second advantage going into the 10.6-kilometre climb (average 6.9%).

The fight for the podium was still wide open too, with Lennert Van Eetvelt (third), Ilan Van Wilder (fifth) and Evenepoel (tenth) all still in the mix. Evenepoel also spoke beforehand about aiming for the stage win on Jebel Hafeet.

For the GC contenders, the early hours were mostly about conserving energy — as much as possible, at least. The pace was still high, and it took around forty kilometres before a seven-man break was given some room. Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers) was one of the engines in the move.

The Welshman was joined by his young teammate Peter Oxenberg, Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon–CMA CGM), Axel Huens, Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ), Mark Stewart (Modern Adventure) and Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic PostNL). In the peloton, Bahrain, UAE and Lotto–Intermarché shared the workload.

On the approach to Jebel Hafeet, the bunch was suddenly shaken by a crash at a moment you wouldn’t expect it. Among those involved were Ben Tulett, Wilco Kelderman (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Chris Harper (Pinarello – Q36.5), with the latter appearing to come off worst. Kelderman and Tulett remounted quickly, while Harper was seen clutching his shoulder.

At an average speed of more than 50 kilometres per hour, the peloton hit the foot of the final climb with a tailwind still helping the pace. The leaders’ advantage — roughly a minute and a half — never looked like it would be enough to survive to the finish.

Once the road began to rise, the strongest climbers moved to the front. UAE Team Emirates–XRG in particular wanted to make it a hard, selective effort for Del Toro. Elsewhere, Daan Hoole and Gregor Mühlberger did strong work for Felix Gall.

That pace quickly did damage, with Evenepoel and Visma leader Jørgen Nordhagen among those put under pressure. Five riders remained at the sharp end: Gall, Tiberi, Del Toro, Harold Tejada and Derek Gee.

A brief moment of hesitation allowed Evenepoel and others to come back, after which the Belgian immediately tried a small acceleration. The first real sting, however, came from Gall — with Adam Yates, riding in service of Del Toro, able to follow. That proved the turning point for Evenepoel, who then saw former teammate Van Wilder hit the deck after a touch of wheels.

Up front, Yates paved the way for Del Toro. With four kilometres to go, the Mexican launched his first serious attack. Tiberi followed, but the repeated accelerations started to bite. By sheer grit, the Italian held the wheel — and Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) also impressively fought his way back.

Del Toro then went all-in once more, finally forcing Tiberi to crack. He opened a gap of around twenty seconds, enough to take both the stage victory and the overall race lead — delivering a perfect result for UAE Team Emirates–XRG on home roads.