Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took the win on top of Jebel Hafeet on stage 5 of the UAE Tour after out-sprinting Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) on the line. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) finished third and had no problems keeping the red leader’s jersey.

Later the same evening, upon the cancellation of the final two stages, Yates was confirmed winner of the UAE Tour.

Unlike the previous days, several riders were eager to make it into the morning breakaway today. However, after a furious fight at the beginning of the stage, only five riders managed to get away. The peloton was happy to let the quintet open up a good gap and let them get over six minute before they started to chase.

As the break approached the final climb, the gap was coming down quickly and at the bottom of Jebel Hafeet, only two minutes separated the peloton and the front group.

Team UAE Emirates kept a high pace, trying to set up Pogačar for the win and with 4.5 km to go, the young Slovenian put in his first attack. Yates was quick to follow and soon after, also Lutsenko and David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ) joined the two riders. Pogačar kept on attacking but ultimately, after multiple attempts, he realized it wasn’t going to happen and he settled in for the final sprint.

Lutsenko was the first one to hit out and he seemed to have the victory in the bag. However, on the very final meters, Pogačar managed to come around the Kazakh champion and make a real sprinters’ bike-throw to take the win.

In the general classification, Yates is now 1:01 minutes ahead of Pogačar in second place with 1:33 minutes down to Lutsenko in third. Tomorrow, a stage for the sprinters awaits the peloton on the 158km from Al Ruwais to Al Mirfa.