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Tadej Pogacar claimed stage 3 of the UAE Tour, powering to victory on the summit of Jebel Jais today as the Slovenian secured his first stage win of 2025 at the UAE Tour.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider triumphed in a sprint finish after a 20-kilometer climb, crossing the line ahead of Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), with reigning champion Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) fourth.
It was the Slovenian’s 89th career win and his seventh at the UAE Tour, which saw him take the overall lead as Stage 2 time-trial winner Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) dropped from the lead group inside the final kilometer.
Pogacar is now in prime position to win his third UAE Tour title after establishing an 18-second advantage on overnight leader Tarling, with Pablo Castrillo (Movistar) a further five seconds back in third.
“We finally have a victory after three days and we are super happy,” said the three-time Tour de France champion after the 181km ride from Ras Al-Khaimah to Jebel Jais
“We did perfect, it was a hard day for the guys to control the race because it’s long. We had no help whatsoever until the final climb and we executed it really good. Everybody deserves a victory today from our team, so I’m super happy.”
Pogacar’s teammates set him up perfectly for the stage honors, injecting the ideal pace for their rainbow-jersey-wearing leader to pounce.
“We asked Ineos if they wanted to pay the honors to the jersey from the start, but we were left alone,” added Pogacar
“Rune [Herregodts] was really good pulling all day and then Lotto helped us a bit and then in the climb we just tried to do our own pace.
“It’s really good to win in the rainbow jersey. Part of me hoped that Tarling would hold on to the bunch and he would keep the jersey, but I will be more than happy to have the leader’s jersey tomorrow instead of the rainbows.”
Despite the team’s dominance in Stage 3, Pogacar played down the idea that a third title was safely in the bag.
“It’s not finished yet,” he insisted. “Now three stages of flat. You never know what happens here. You can lose it really quickly.
“Tomorrow is the middle point of the race. So, yeah, still more than halfway to go.”
Pogacar finished 10th in the opening stage and followed up with a third-place finish in the Stage 2 time trial before the impressive win at Jebel Jais.
Thursday’s Stage 4 is another 181km route flat stage from Fujairah Qidfa Beach to Umm Al Quwain.
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