UAE Tour 2026, February 16-22

[Karl Merckx]

an up and comer like 5 years younger

3 years and 10 months, he is not that young.

 

[search]

Start order for tomorrow's ITT (pdf). Hardly any GC guys in the 2nd half (unless you count Dunbar as one), apart from del Toro in last.

https://urlsand.esvalabs.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwgbxra.clicks.mlsend.com%2Ftd%2Fc%2FeyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjY5ODA5NSxcImxcIjoxNzk1NzExNDI3MzcwMDQxNzUsXCJyXCI6MTc5NTcxMTU3MTY0MzYxNjQ4fSIsInMiOiI4NzY2MjI4YmJlOTBkYWNkIn0&e=ef878189&h=d79a9718&f=y&p=y

 

[Berniece]

Start order for tomorrow's ITT (pdf). Hardly any GC guys in the 2nd half (unless you count Dunbar as one), apart from del Toro in last.

https://urlsand.esvalabs.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwgbxra.clicks.mlsend.com%2Ftd%2Fc%2FeyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjY5ODA5NSxcImxcIjoxNzk1NzExNDI3MzcwMDQxNzUsXCJyXCI6MTc5NTcxMTU3MTY0MzYxNjQ4fSIsInMiOiI4NzY2MjI4YmJlOTBkYWNkIn0&e=ef878189&h=d79a9718&f=y&p=y

Gonna be fun for Evenepoel to sit in the hotseat for 2-3 hours

 

[Samamba]

Gonna be fun for Evenepoel to sit in the hotseat for 2-3 hours

Unless Tarling beats him

 

[Cycling111]

Yeah, because Tarling is also riding the ITT, and he could've taken a big step forward.

Mistake. I meant the mountain stage. I want a strong Remco in the Tour, although I still think the gap with Vingegaard is too big in the mountains.

But it would be great if he won this UAE Tour in mountain stage convincingly.

 

[Berniece]

Mistake. I meant the mountain stage. I want a strong Remco in the Tour, although I still think the gap with Vingegaard is too big in the mountains.

But it would be great if he won this UAE Tour in mountain stage convincingly.

Catalunya is much more important in that regard for me

 

[KoopaCycling]

Evenepoel won Vuelta at age 22, Del Toro has been unhampered in a UAE fueled progress and finished 2nd in the giro last year. If Del Toro got even better and red circled this year UAE Tour, whilst remco real goals are later i do no see why he would not be able to challenge Remco here. I do not think the gap between Remco and Jonas is that big. If Remco improves and Jonas drops a bit he can beat him this year. Pogacar i think will remain difficult. But maybe he won't need to beat him to win the overall for various reasons.

 

[Cycling111]

Catalunya is much more important in that regard for me

Yes, because it's closer to the Tour de France and Vingegaard will be there.

But we're talking about Remco wanting to aim for second place in the Tour (that's what he's said). To beat Vingegaard, he has to be far superior to the rest in mountains. That starts with winning here.
Doubts could also return if Del Toro defeats him easily.
Del Toro isn't reliable on such a tough climb either. Ciccone beat him in Burgos.

 

[Red Rick]

Who was 2nd in the Giro last year and lost it because of a tactical blunder...

Well I simply disagree he was almost 2 minutes down on the Finestre for the fun of it

But had Evenepoel lost a Giro to Simon Yates nobody would frame that as a great success

 

[Berniece]

Yes, because it's closer to the Tour de France and Vingegaard will be there.

But we're talking about Remco wanting to aim for second place in the Tour (that's what he's said). To beat Vingegaard, he has to be far superior to the rest in mountains. That starts with winning here.
Doubts could also return if Del Toro defeats him easily.
Del Toro isn't reliable on such a tough climb either. Ciccone beat him in Burgos.

Because Remco comes from altitude, different beast compared to now

 

[Rou]

Start order for tomorrow's ITT (pdf). Hardly any GC guys in the 2nd half (unless you count Dunbar as one), apart from del Toro in last.

https://urlsand.esvalabs.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwgbxra.clicks.mlsend.com%2Ftd%2Fc%2FeyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjY5ODA5NSxcImxcIjoxNzk1NzExNDI3MzcwMDQxNzUsXCJyXCI6MTc5NTcxMTU3MTY0MzYxNjQ4fSIsInMiOiI4NzY2MjI4YmJlOTBkYWNkIn0&e=ef878189&h=d79a9718&f=y&p=y

So why exactly are the riders starting in that order?
Why exactly are the results from today not taken into account?

 

[Samamba]

So why exactly are the riders starting in that order?
Why exactly are the results from today not taken into account?

Because those are the rules in the UAE Tour for some reason. Is every year like this

 

[Rou]

Because those are the rules in the UAE Tour for some reason. Is every year like this

I see. The sheikhs can do everything they want with their money.