Pogacar takes double victory: "But I was hoping Joshua Tarling would be able to hang on"

Tadej Pogacar convincingly won the sprint for the stage victory in the UAE Tour. The third stage finished atop Jebel Jais, marking the first uphill finish in the second WorldTour race of the year. In the end, a group of fifteen climbers contested the sprint for the win, and unsurprisingly, Pogacar was the fastest. Behind him, Oscar Onley finished second, while Felix Gall took third.

He had already announced it after Tuesday’s time trial: the Slovenian world champion wanted a sprint on Jebel Jais. UAE Team Emirates-XRG set the pace on the climb, pushing such a high tempo that no one dared to attack. It wasn’t until two kilometers from the finish that Gall launched an attack, but his attempt was quickly neutralized by Jay Vine, Pogacar’s last domestique. From there, the sprint seemed like an easy victory for the world champion.

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Pogacar hoped Tarling could hang on

"We executed our plan perfectly. Everyone on the team deserves this victory. I’m super happy," said Pogacar in the flash interview. He was also asked about his team’s tactics and why they took control on Jebel Jais right from the start. "I think we had to. We asked INEOS if they wanted to pay honors to the jersey, but we were left alone. Luckily, Lotto helped us a bit. On the climb, we try to do our own pace," the Slovenian explained.

Pogacar is only the second rider to win a stage in the UAE Tour while wearing the rainbow jersey—something the team’s sponsors certainly appreciate in their home race. "It feels good to win in the rainbow jersey. Part of me hoped that Joshua Tarling would be able to hang to the bunch so he could keep the leader’s jersey, but I’ll be happy to wear the leader’s jersey instead of the rainbow jersey tomorrow. It's ok," Pogacar said with a smile.

The next three days will feature sprint stages, meaning the GC contenders will likely only have to fight again on Sunday when the race finishes on Jebel Hafeet. "Now we have three flat stages coming up, but you never know what can happen here. So nothing is done yet; I could lose the leader’s jersey quickly," Pogacar concluded in a politically correct manner.

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