UAE Tour 2026, February 16-22

[Tim Cahill]

Woke up extra early thinking oh boy can’t wait to tune in to what should be an exciting timed trial but there’s some kind of ridiculous start order and all the decent people have gone before the broadcast starts. Swear they did the same *** last year too.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Woke up extra early thinking oh boy can’t wait to tune in to what should be an exciting timed trial but there’s some kind of ridiculous start order and all the decent people have gone before the broadcast starts. Swear they did the same *** last year too.

you can watch on youtube

 

[Berniece]

Del Toro has a lot of power; I think he can do better than Castrillo, who lost 35 seconds.

It also depends on the wind. It's clear that this year have had worse conditions than last year. Everyone has lost time compared to last year.

I'm taking the wind into account. These aren't fair conditions, not everyone will have the same environment to race in. That's a choice UAE made yesterday. I'm pretty sure it'll be somewhere between 30-40s, but wouldn't be surprised if it's maybe even a bit worse.

 

[Cycling111]

This forum will be a fun read later after the beating that Isaac will receive.
Yesterday he was a mutant, today Remco will put him on his place.

Did anyone say he's going to win today? We're calculating how much he could lose.

And yesterday most of us were saying that Remco should be the favorite for this race because Del Toro has been defeated by Carapaz and Ciccone on tough climbs.

 

[Rou]

I see Pogacar in his UAE form losing 15-20 secs to Remco today.
Del Toro - 40+.

 

[KoopaCycling]

You all could very well be right. I'll admit to maybe some del toro hype bias.
Would not mind to be proven wrong in favour of remco.

 

[Rou]

Did anyone say he's going to win today? We're calculating how much he could lose.

And yesterday most of us were saying that Remco should be the favorite for this race because Del Toro has been defeated by Carapaz and Ciccone on tough climbs.

I mean some people are expecting that Toro will put Remco on the limit on the climbs. I expect Remco to comfortably wheelsuck and even beat him at the end.
I don't see Toro having the watts on the climbs.

 

[Netserk]

i will once again plead that when startorder isnt determined by the gc, the intra team order should go by world ranking

 

[Tim Cahill]

Yesterday means nothing for tomorrow I think, in the same way Valencia/today doesn’t really say much about how Evenepoel will do on a steep 45 minute climb. Sometimes in cycling you have to give up qualities to gain others.

you can watch on youtube

Thanks, I did think it was a bit odd you lot getting all excited if you were just staring at a pcs screen, not that I haven’t done that myself.

 

[Cycling111]

I'm taking the wind into account. These aren't fair conditions, not everyone will have the same environment to race in. That's a choice UAE made yesterday. I'm pretty sure it'll be somewhere between 30-40s, but wouldn't be surprised if it's maybe even a bit worse.

I think he made the right decision yesterday. He isn't favorite for today.
They also don't know if Del Toro can beat Remco in a climb; last year he was inferior on climb in Lombardy.
He's secured a victory in sponsor's race.

 

[KoopaCycling]

There is a gap of 35 sec with other race favourites vs remco so far. Plapp is closer, Gall been put on a minute.
Now we wait for del Toro.

 

[Netserk]

so far

#	Start*	Rider	Time	KM/h
1	12:54:00	EVENEPOEL Remco	13.03,0	56.092
2	13:15:00	TARLING Joshua	13.09,0	55.665
3	12:50:00	CAVAGNA Rémi	13.15,0	55.245
4	13:22:00	HAYTER Ethan	13.28,0	54.356
5	12:53:00	PLAPP Luke	13.29,0	54.289
6	12:55:00	SHMIDT Artem	13.32,0	54.089
7	13:29:00	VERMEERSCH Florian	13.33,0	54.022
8	13:07:00	BISSEGGER Stefan	13.34,0	53.956
9	13:01:00	VAN WILDER Ilan	13.37,0	53.758
10	13:27:00	TIBERI Antonio	13.37,0	53.758
11	13:05:00	GEE-WEST Derek	13.38,0	53.692
12	13:12:00	CASTRILLO Pablo	13.38,0	53.692
13	13:14:00	FISHER-BLACK Finn	13.39,0	53.626
14	13:26:00	WALSCHEID Max	13.39,0	53.626
15	13:16:00	KLUCKERS Arthur	13.40,0	53.561
16	13:02:00	TEJADA Harold	13.42,0	53.431
17	13:00:00	DE BOD Stefan	13.43,0	53.366
18	13:13:00	O'CONNOR Ben	13.45,0	53.236
19	13:25:00	NORDHAGEN Jørgen	13.46,0	53.172
20	13:21:00	MUNTON Byron	13.48,0	53.043
21	13:03:00	VEISTROFFER Baptiste	13.49,0	52.979
22	12:56:00	STORER Michael	13.50,0	52.916
23	13:17:00	STEINHAUSER Georg	13.53,0	52.725
24	13:04:00	TULETT Ben	13.58,0	52.411
25	13:09:00	GAUDU David	13.59,0	52.348
26	13:28:00	GALL Felix	14.00,0	52.286
27	13:20:00	CÔTÉ Pier-André	14.03,0	52.100
28	12:58:00	VERGALLITO Luca	14.05,0	51.976
29	13:24:00	VAN EETVELT Lennert	14.06,0	51.915
30	13:08:00	YATES Adam	14.07,0	51.854
31	12:52:00	GAFFURI Mattia	14.11,0	51.610
32	13:06:00	CARUSO Damiano	14.16,0	51.308
33	13:19:00	JOHANNESSEN Anders Halland	14.17,0	51.249
34	13:23:00	HIGUITA Sergio	14.17,0	51.249

 

[Rou]

What happened to the Visma boys? This team has fallen from Mt. Everest to the Mariana trench.

 

[Cycling111]

Can Del Toro do better than his teammate Vermeerchs?

 

[Berniece]

I think he made the right decision yesterday. He isn't favorite for today.
They also don't know if Del Toro can beat Remco in a climb; last year he was inferior on climb in Lombardy.
He's secured a victory in sponsor's race.

The goal is to win the GC with Del Toro. Let's say he loses 40s today, and we notice this was influenced by the wind. If he then loses the GC by 5s, they'll look back at the first stage and know they tactically blundered it again.

 

[kingjr]

Can Del Toro do better than his teammate Vermeerchs?

We'll find out, after these messages

 

[Tim Cahill]

Really admire Galls unprofessionalism and just outright refusal to work on his tt, shades of landismo, he will make it up in the mountains anyway.

 

[Rou]

Can Del Toro do better than his teammate Vermeerchs?

Simple answer is no.
Last year in Tirreno over slightly less distance he lost 37 secs to Ganna.
Imagine what Remco will do to him.

 

[Samamba]

Really admire Galls unprofessionalism and just outright refusal to work on his tt, shades of landismo, he will make it up in the mountains anyway.

Yk some riders just aren't good at TTing... Gall has worked plenty on it.

 

[KoopaCycling]

Glad to see remco socks were normal. Wellens was basically wearing stockings yesterday.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Really admire Galls unprofessionalism and just outright refusal to work on his tt, shades of landismo, he will make it up in the mountains anyway.

If Decathlon were what I like to call a serious player, he would have been given Bissegger's start time instead. He also still managed to beat UAE's real leader, Adam Yates, so it could've been worse.

 

[will-10]

What happened to the Visma boys? This team has fallen from Mt. Everest to the Mariana trench.

To say they have their B team here would be generous

 

[Devil's Elbow]

A reminder that, after the MTF, they have three sprint stages from Thursday through Saturday, and could easily have switched one of those with today's TT to a) improve the pacing and b) ensure that all GC riders start around the same time and during the main broadcast. It's such an easy improvement and so stupid to do it this way.

 

[Tim Cahill]

If Decathlon were what I like to call a serious player, he would have been given Bissegger's start time instead. He also still managed to beat UAE's real leader, Adam Yates, so it could've been worse.

I’ve heard Simon Yates has spent the last 2 months doing upper body work in the gym and eating a *** load. Adam has been doing the same looking at his deterioration in form, quitting quietly the youth of today call it, they will regret giving him a Bauke Mollema style long contract, the man cannot be arsed.

 

[Cycling111]

The goal is to win the GC with Del Toro. Let's say he loses 40s today, and we notice this was influenced by the wind. If he then loses the GC by 5s, they'll look back at the first stage and know they tactically blundered it again.

But it's not as certain a goal as with Pogacar.

It's better to secure a victory in sponsor's race.