Pogacar secures his third UAE Tour crown

Tadej Pogacar wins the seventh edition of the UAE Tour by attacking 7.7 km from the finish at Jebel Hafeet, where he had already claimed victory in 2020, 2021, and 2022, securing the Unity Trophy for the third time. The world champion put his stamp on an almost perfect week in a stage raced at extremely high speed (47.129 km/h average).The peloton arrived at the foot of the climb in a fragmented state after crosswinds once again disrupted the balance among the contenders. Big names like Felix Gall and 2024 winner Lennert Van Eetvelt were caught in the second group and could not regain contact with the 42 riders left at front.

UAE Team Emirates – XRG set a relentless pace at the base of the climb, splitting the lead group once more and setting the stage for Pogacar’s decisive attack. Only Giulio Ciccone and Oscar Onley managed to stay on his wheel, even if only for 200 metres. The Lidl-Trek rider crossed the line 32” behind the Red Jersey, finishing 3” ahead of Pello Bilbao, who secured his third career podium at the UAE Tour. In the other classifications, Jonathan Milan confirmed his Green Jersey, Djordje Djuric retained the Black Jersey, and Ivan Romeo claimed the White Jersey after Joshua Tarling struggled at the start of the climb.

Speaking immediately after being presented with the Red Jersey and the race winner’s trophy on the podium, Tadej Pogacar said: “Today’s race was just suffering until 2km to go when I could relax a bit and try to enjoy the last kilometres, thinking of seeing my family at the finish. It’s nice to finish the UAE Tour like this. For now, I’m glad I’ve won the first race of the season and I can enjoy from now on, going to the classics. I don’t mind if everything goes as smooth as last year. I was in a pretty good shape in Milano-Sanremo last year. This year I’m hoping for luck and finding the good moment in the race to get rid of the sprinters”.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 – Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG)
2 – Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) at 1’14”
3 – Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) at 1’19”

STAGE RESULTS
1 – Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG), 176km in 3h44’04”, average speed 47.129 km/h
2 – Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) at 32″
3 – Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) at 35″

THE OFFICIAL JERSEYS

The leader jerseys of the UAE Tour are provided by ALÉ, with ENIT and ITALIA.IT as proud jersey partners

• Red Jersey, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by International Holding Company: IHC – Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates – XRG)
• Green Jersey, leader of the Points Classification, sponsored by Mubadala -Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
• White Jersey, Best Young Rider, sponsored by Nakheel – Ivan Romeo (Movistar Team)
• Black Jersey, leader of the Intermediate Sprint Classification, sponsored by ALDAR – Djordje Djuric (Solution Tech Vini Fantini)

PRESS CONFERENCE
Speaking at the press conference, runner-up Giulio Ciccone said: “Second place is not a victory but I’m quite happy with it because it was a crazy stage today. I’m happy to finish second to Pogi but I’m also happy with my condition, also about the team. They did a great job. Making the echelon was the hardest part of the stage for me. Podium on GC is the best way to start a new season. Hopefully it will continue like this”.

Third placed Pello Bilbao said: “Tadej Pogačar is so used to make the top step of the podium that it’s an incredible feeling for me to stand on his side. It’s been such a hard job all week. Today I was feeling the pressure. I’ve been on the podium in the past but looking at the other contenders this time, the level was so high that I wasn’t sure at all to make it once again. Today I was alone in the breakaway but I still owe a big thank you to my team for having taken care of me all week long. We have used all our experience to make the biggest possible achievement here”.

The Green Jersey Jonathan Milan said: “For us, it was important to bring Giulio Ciccone in the best possible spot at the bottom of Jebel Hafeet and bring my green jersey home. It was pretty close with Tim Merlier and I thought the best way to make was throughout the first intermediate sprint. Then when the chasing group came across, I kept working with my guys for Ciccone. He delivered a beautiful result today. We came here to win as much as possible. With two stages and the Green Jersey, we achieved a lot in this UAE Tour and we also learnt from some mistakes”.

The White Jersey Ivan Romeo said: “It means everything to meto be the best young rider at the end of the UAE Tour. The team deserved the third but I gave it all. The way we rode this week is incredible. It makes me super happy. We knew Tadej Pogacar was in another category but Pablo Castrillo paced me up the climb along with Pello [Bilbao]. We knew it was better for to keep that pace. Now we’ll try to win the races when Tadej is not there, we have a new generation of Movistar riders with a big ambition”.

The Black Jersey Djordje Djuric: “I attacked again from the start today to secure the intermediate sprints jersey. After I finished second in the first sprint, we tried to stay in the breakaway but it was a very hard race and it was very difficult to arrive atop Jebel Hafeet! It’s nice training bloc before the next races but it’s also very nice to take part in the final price giving ceremony with this top riders like Tadej Pogacar”.

STATISTICS

• 3rd UAE Tour GC win for Tadej Pogacar.
  His rivals are all at 1: Primoz Roglic, Adam Yates, Remco Evenepoel, Lennert Van Eetvelt.
• Giulio Ciccone (2nd) is the first Italian who finishes in the top-3 at Jebel Hafeet, and the first one to finish on the final GC podium.
• Pello Bilbao finished 3 times on the UAE Tour GC podium, always in 3rd: 2022, 2024, 2025.
• The 2025 UAE Tour finishes with the all-time record of stage wins set at 7-6 in favour of Tim Merlier from Tadej Pogacar. They both won 2 stages in this edition.

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