UAE Tour 2024: GC Favourites

[Underneath text was written before the start of the UAE Tour and has not been updated]

The GC battle on the UAE Tour comes down to three stages. The 2nd stage is a flat ITT before the first of two mountain finishes takes place on the third day of action. Jebel Jais climbs for 20 kilometres with gradients hovering around 5%. Usually the time gaps on the Jebel Jais climb are very slim.

The finish climb on the last day, Jebel Hafeet, is something else entirely. It’s a 10.8 kilometres drag with the section from kilometre 4 to 8 sloping at 8% to 9%, while the average gradient sits at 6.6% . In 2020, Adam Yates attacked in this part of the climb and he finished roughly 1 minute ahead of the first chasers. In the subsequent two editions it was Tadej Pogacar who outsprinted Yates (not his team mate at the time) on the line before Yates took the spoils again last year, this time outperforming Remco Evenepoel.

So, Yates is the hot favourite to win at Jebel Hafeet and, consequently, the GC, as the 12.1 kilometres long ITT is expected to open relatively small time gaps and it will all come down to the last climb of the week. Moreover, Yates is the only former winner on the start list of the 2024 UAE Tour, plus he recently turned out on top in the Tour of Oman.

Favourites UAE Tour 2024

*** Adam Yates, Pello Bilbao
** Jay Vine, Brandon McNulty, Ben O’Connor
* Lennert Van Eetvelt, Ilan Van Wilder, Juan Pedro López