Following the opening two legs in Australia, the WorldTour heads to the Middle East for the seventh edition of the UAE Tour. A conventional route sees a clear divide between three GC days (a stage two time trial, and mountain top finishes at Jebel Jais and Jebel Hafeet on stages three and eight respectively) and four sprints, but this being held in the desert means strong winds are always a possibility to complicate matters.
The headline attendee is Tadej Pogačar. This will be the first time the world champion lines up in a race in his follow-up season to what was a history-making 2024 campaign, and this will offer a first glimpse as to whether he can maintain those impossibly high standards set last year.
The multiple sprinter-friendly stages have also attracted a star-studded field of fastmen. In addition to the headliners we’ve mentioned below, also lining up will be the likes of Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-Alula), Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) and Fabio Jakobsen (Team Picnic PostNL). In recent years the UAE Tour has hosted some of the most hotly-contested sprint finishes of the year, and the 2025 edition looks set to be no different.
Stage-hunting sprinters
Tim Merlier (Soudal–Quick-Step)
No rider won more stages at both of the last two UAE Tour editions than Tim Merlier, who followed two sprint wins in 2023 with another three last year. Those victories last year were early strikes in what was to be an eventual season haul of 16, more than any other sprinter that year, and he’s continued in the same vein this year by triumphing twice at the Alula Tour last month. With a return to the Tour de France for the first time since 2021 on the cards later this season, he’ll want to use these sprints to prove to his Soudal–Quick-Step team that it’s worth making space for him in that line-up despite Remco Evenepoel’s GC bid priority.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
For the first time since 2022, when he was the dominant sprinter and won stages as well as the points classification, Jasper Philipsen will compete at the UAE Tour. Though the spring Classics will be his primary goal for this first phase of the season, the flat stages here provide an inviting chance for him to sprint, while any strong winds and echelon racing could make for useful form-building for the Belgian conditions. In the years since his last appearance here three years ago, Philipsen has risen to become recognised as the best sprinter in the world, and then challenged for that status by Merlier. Watching the two of them go head-to-head promises to be some spectacle.
(Image by Zac Williams/SWPix)
Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious)
Though Merlier and Philipsen are widely recognised as the quickest sprinters in the world right now, Jonathan Milan appears to be quickly closing the gap. The Italian was Merlier’s main sprinting rival at the Giro d’Italia last year, where both claimed three stages each, and he got off to a winning start at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in his first bunch sprint of this season. The way he climbed to finish second place in the preceding stage, surrounded mostly by GC riders rather than sprinters, suggests he might have the edge on the opening stage’s uphill finish, too.
Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike)
What promises to be a big season for Olav Kooij got off to a great start at the Tour of Oman earlier this week, where he claimed two bunch sprint wins. Despite still only being 23 years old, those were already the 37th and 38th wins of his career — yet there’s still a sense he hasn’t quite broken through to cycling’s elite. Winning stages at WorldTour level in as strong a field as this would help amend that, and bode well as he builds towards appearances at the Classics and Giro d’Italia.
GC contenders
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
He’s back! For the first time since winning Il Lombardia four months ago, Tadej Pogačar will pin on a race number, with an aura of invincibility following his record-breaking antics of 2024. He already holds the honour of most UAE Tour titles thanks to his triumphs here in 2021 and 2022, and any question that he might be riding more to build form than to win should be dispelled by the fact that he’s representing the team for whom this is a home race. The Slovenian will start the race in the world champion’s jersey he won in Zurich last year, but it seems inevitable that he’ll swap it at some point for the leader’s red jersey, either on the stage two time trial, or stage three summit finish at Jebel Jais.
Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto)
Twelve months ago Lennert Van Eetvelt was the surprise victor at the UAE Tour, triumphing on the Jebel Hafeet summit to take the red jersey on the last day of the race. That was the beginning of what was a breakthrough season for the Belgian, as he followed it up with a podium at San Sebastian, high placings at Strade Bianche and Il Lombardia, a strong run of Vuelta performances (before illness forced him into an early withdrawal) and another Asian overall victory at Gree-Tour of Guangxi. Retaining that title will be far from simple, what with the presence of a certain Tadej Pogačar, but if he’s improved as much last off-season as the one before then he could spring yet more surprises.
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious)
The UAE Tour is always a race Pello Bilbao arrives in form for, finishing third, fourth and third in the last three editions respectively. Yet for all his consistency, he’s never claimed the overall title, something which could be said for his career as a whole — in fact, for all his success at making the top fives in some of the world’s biggest stage races and Grand Tours, he’s never actually won GC at any. His form at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana to finish third overall suggests he at least has a chance of doing so this time, especially as he’ll lead Bahrain-Victorious in the absence of Santiago Buitrago, the teammate he helped win that race.
Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers)
Riding the UAE Tour for the first time since debuting as a 19-year-old neo-pro in 2020, Carlos Rodríguez is the man tasked with targeting a GC victory for the ailing Ineos Grenadiers team, something they’ve only managed once in the last two seasons. His form at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, where he finished in sixth overall, wasn’t too promising, and continues a pattern throughout these early years of his career of taking time in the season to reach his best legs. But on paper he’s probably the most accomplished climber here after Pogačar, so is still a top contender.
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates)
UAE Team Emirates have selected a team full of rouleurs rather than climbers, perhaps assessing that their leader Tadej Pogačar can look after himself on the mountain top finishes, but might be more vulnerable in the crosswinds. But they have selected one of their other elite climbers — Jay Vine. Though his form so far this year has been underwhelming, he was a protagonist at last year’s UAE Tour, which he led for the most part before losing the red jersey on the final day. He’ll likely be up there on GC simply by being Pogačar’s right-hand man, and should anything happen to the Slovenian, he’ll be poised to step up and fight for overall victory himself.
