Cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar just missed the first win of the season as third on the second stage of his UAE team.
The Slovenian world champion took 13:13 minutes on the individual time trial on the Al Hudayriyat Island off the Abu Dhabis coast for the 12.2 km – and thus 18 seconds longer than the Welsh day winner and new overall leading Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers).
Fast the 26-year-old Pogacar, who won the UAE Tour 2021 and 2022, was also only the Swiss Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon-AG2R). As the best German, Maximilian Walscheid convinced on the short circuit as fifth, the 31-year-old from the Jayco Alula team was only 24 seconds slower than tarn.
Milan loses a lot of time
The Italian sprint star Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who had secured the opening victory the day before, also lost a lot of ground due to the unusual starting no. While all favorites had free choice at the start time and how Pogacar started early, Milan was the overall leader to roll off the ramp. With increasing wind, it was only enough for Milan for 49th place (+1: 13 minutes).