Tiberi best as UAE Tour explodes, Ireland's Dunbar loses time | Video

Antonio Tiberi went early on the brutal finish of Jebel Mobrah, with the field exploding behind him and the young Italian taking the stage and leader's jersey (Photo: Luca Bettini-Sprint Cycling Agency)

Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) went early on the brutal finish of Jebel Mobrah at UAE Tour on Wednesday, dropping his rivals and holding off a late charge from chasing Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to win the stage and take the leader's jersey.

On what was a curious finish, many of the riders who made an early move were undone by the brutality of the climb, but not before staging a mini comeback about halfway up the climb. Ireland's Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello Q36.5) was one of those who looked done for the day about 5km from the finish.

However, after drifing off the back, and as the intensity eased back a little, Dunbar got into what was effectively the remains of the peloton; a select group chasing the attackers in ones and twos ahead.

Advertisement

But no sooner had Dunbar signalled he was gathering himself, the group he was in fully exploded and the Irishman was under pressure. In the end he was 23rd on the stage, some 2:50 down on winner Tiberi, though he wasn't on his own, far from it.

The climb appeared to take a lot out of some of the biggest names in the race. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), for example, looked for a time like he was among a small group riding away, only to blow and lose 2:04, and with it his race lead.

And though stage 1 winner, del Torro, was eventually 2nd on the stage, he appeared to struggle in the early phase of the ascent. The first big climbing effort of the season, in the heat, was clearly taking its toll. However, unlike those who faded as the climb continued, del Torro regrouped.

He eventually dropped the others in the small front group and went off in pursuit of solo leader Tiberi. However, though he pegged the gap back to about 15 seconds, Tiberi rode a flawless climb - most of it out front solo - and had the legs to keep his effort going.

Related News

He crossed the line some 15 seconds up on del Torro, with Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché) 3rd at 29 seconds. Then came Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team), at 41 seconds, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), at 51 seconds and just ahead of Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).

Dunbar has now lost time on the last two stages, and is 25th overall at 3:41, with his general classification hopes ended. However, he still has a chance remaining on this race as Saturday's stage 6 finishes at the top of the Jebel Hafeet climb.

And today's new climbing finish - which was savage and is likely to become a classic battleground at this race - may have blown away some cobwebs for Dunbar ahead of Saturday's terrain, which can really suit him.

Irish TT champion Ryan Mullen (NSN Pro Cycling), who is at this race on lead-out duties, finished 102nd today, at 17:56. Tomorrow the race continues with a relatively lumpy 182km to Fujairah, featuring constantly undulating terrain, totaling 2,360m of elevation gain.

Related News