It was a role-reversal from yesterday, as the European champion Tim Merlier pulled a vintage long, hard sprint to victory in the fifth stage of the UAE Tour, pipping Jonathan Milan at the line who managed to finish third, as XDS Astana’s Matteo Malucelli came second.
The race was dominated by two big narratives. First, the world champion and race leader, perhaps eagerly looking for some extra training, jumping the gun and riding away with the breakaway. He ended up spending more than 100km at the head of the race before finally being caught by the peloton, with the race being ridden at a frantic average speed of 48km/hr.
The race leader, Tadej Pogacar going in the breakaway of the day in @uae_tour on a completely flat stage. 🙈😂 Probably he needed a harder day of training or just wanted to have fun, anything is possible with Tadej. #UAETourpic.twitter.com/lt4Ci6iXNn
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) February 21, 2025
And then there were the crashes, two in the final few kilometres, one of them catching a number of GC riders out outside the neutralisation zone, which marred another otherwise entertaining day in the dessert (mainly thanks to Domen Novak and his “amazing sh*thousery”).
Tim Merlier powers to the stage win after a chaotic finish... then takes a tumble after the finish line 😳💥#UAETourpic.twitter.com/oxsCrVt5Ry
— Eurosport (@eurosport) February 21, 2025
Unfortunately, it wasn’t over yet — Merlier, after crossing the line, looked like he was carrying a bit too much speed, and as the Belgian tried to avoid an onlooker in the post-race area, he went flying over the handlebars. Thankfully, it’s been confirmed that there was no harm done.
Groupama–FDJ has announced that David Gaudu will be forced to miss the Classic Var today and the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes tomorrow after he was involved in a crash caused by a stray animal while on a training ride.
The 28-year-old Frenchman had enjoyed a good start to the 2025 season, winning the third stage of the Tour of Oman and finishing third in the general classification.
Despite all the news of a bumper €8 million contract, while being adjudged as the best rider of all time by Eddy Merckx himself, you’d think Tadej Pogačar might have allowed some of it to get to his head. But if you were to believe Rune Herregodts and Florian Vermeersch, two riders who joined UAE Team Emirates–XRG this year, they would tell you that he’s truly a “very normal guy”.
In conversation with the Dutch newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, the pair have shed light on the inner workings of the richest cycling team in the world, as well as how it feels to train and ride with the men’s road world champion.
One quite agreeable, almost deferential habit of Pogačar that was revealed in the interview is that he carries a spare non-rainbow jersey in his pocket while out on training rides. Why, you ask? So that if they switch to time trial bikes from their road bikes, Pogačar isn’t wearing the rainbow bands out of respect for Remco Evenepoel, the men’s time trial world champion.
Herregodts said: “Do you know what I thought was great? During training, we sometimes switch from a regular bike to a time trial bike. Then he always insists on taking a regular jersey with him, in addition to the rainbow jersey he was wearing.
“He doesn’t want to sit on his time trial bike with his rainbow jersey. ‘Out of respect for Remco’, he [Pogačar] says. He would rather ride with a jersey in his pocket all the time. He even rolls up the rainbow bands on his pants when he’s on his time trial bike. Fancy, right? In terms of respect, that counts.”
Vermeersch, runner-up of 2021 Paris–Roubaix, joined UAE Team Emirates after six years at Lotto-Dstny, and he said that he’s been made to feel welcome at his new team: “I was a bit afraid of that at first. It had been six years since I had been in a new environment. But I felt very welcome.”
Herregodts, who joined from Intermarché-Wanty, added: “And Pogacar helps with that. It’s been said a thousand times that he’s a very normal guy. That’s really true. Imagine the whole team is sitting around a table and you were to put a camera on it. Then you were to show that footage to someone who knows nothing about racing and ask him who of all those guys is the best rider ever. I don’t think they would pick Tadej. He gets along with everyone so easily.”
Maybe he is just a chill guy… who just so happens to be very non-chill when it comes to winning a bike race.
Judging by the flesh wound we featured on our live blog yesterday, what would you all describe this as?
Será que da garantia?@RideCannondalepic.twitter.com/jfVAbVss55
— O País Do Ciclismo (@opaisdociclismo) February 20, 2025
Bet someone still ends up putting it up for a few quick bucks on Facebook Marketplace...
Domen Novak, take a bow.
The UAE Team Emirates–XRG rider, who’s enjoying his moment in the breakaway in today’s flat stage of the UAE Tour, has brought with himself some much-needed, elite-level s***housery.
Présent dans l’échappée avec Tadej Pogacar sur cette étape de plaine de l’#UAETour, Domen Novak s’amuse bien : le Slovène a salué le peloton, croisé en sens inverse. Des coureurs se plaignaient eux de voir une voiture trop proche de ce groupe.pic.twitter.com/HjPL2S8ZA0
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) February 21, 2025
As the breakaway crossed the peloton travelling in the other direction, the Slovenian couldn’t resist himself and greeted the riders with a cheeky wave — much to the dismay of a couple of Soudal Quick-Step riders, who seemed visibly confused at first, and then mildly agitated upon realising what was going on.
Cycling, never change…
In what has made national sports news headlines now, the colossal debacle from the first stage of Volta ao Algarve is destined to go down as a head-scratching, unforgettable moment in pro cycling, as most of the peloton went the wrong way for the sprint finish, while Ineos Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna, who did stay on course and technically won the race, had his victory written off post hoc.
There have already been severe criticisms of not just the organisational aspect, but also how things were handled after the race, with Ineos and Visma both releasing press statements disagreeing with the decision.
Wout van Aert, who missed out on a chance to sprint and go for the win, said after the race: “Did I also take a wrong turn? Yes, I followed the men in front of me, right? This must be a human error. Someone must have been misinformed at that last roundabout.
“It’s almost laughable. At first I thought: how can this happen? I assumed that there would be a chicane somewhere that we didn't know about, but 300 meters from the finish suddenly all kinds of people were signalling that we had to be careful. So I paid attention.”
However, the Commissioner of the Public Security Police at Volta ao Algarve, Luis Miranda, reiterated that the organisation had not failed and that the “peloton was to blame” for what happened.
“The cyclists were coming down this street, the commissars with the red and yellow flags were here and they signalled for the cyclists to go left, to enter on the left side of the traffic circle,” he said. “The cyclists didn’t look at the commissaire, they were looking at the ground and passed him and went to the right.”