Tadej Pogačar might have bookended his last two seasons with wins, but he won’t be repeating the feat in 2025. On Monday at the first stage of the UAE Tour, the third round and second stage race of the 2025 WorldTour, the world champion didn’t quite get his timing right in the sprint and placed tenth on his season debut, Lidl-Trek’s big Italian Jonathan Milan earning the victory and the first leader’s jersey.
The Course
The first stage was the shortest of the seventh edition, and a lack of desert winds kept it relatively easy-going in the early kilometers. A uphill finish would test the fast men.
💨 Forecasted wind is not favourable for opening hour of Stage 1 of UAE Tour. Wind can make flat stages interesting right from starting line in UAE. This factor will probably be missing on Monday. It’s not pure pan-flat day though. #UAETour
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily.bsky.social) 2025-02-16T21:41:10.871Z
Only a trio of escapees bothered to play the rabbits on Monday. Of the two ProTeam Italians and one Panamanian, only Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) remained to be scooped up with 11 km to go.
The teams were in their colour blocks with 7.9 km remaining, UAE-Emirates arranged to the left, when Pogačar’s Juan Sebastián Molano suffered a wild crash while taking a drink.
In the sprint, double-titlist Pogačar went with 400 meters to go but found himself looking at Milan’s rear tire. He sat up with 150 meters to the line and made the top-10 when Jasper Philipsen was relegated from second for straying into Finn Fisher-Black’s path.
Tuesday is another chance for the man in the rainbow jersey, as the course is a 12.2 time trial.
2025 UAE Tour, Stage 1
1) Jonathan Milan (Italy/Lidl-Trek) 3:31:34
2) Finn Fisher-Black (New Zealand/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
3) Tobias Lund Andresen (Denmark/Picnic-PostNL) s.t.
10) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) s.t.
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