Tadej Pogacar's hopes of securing a fourth Tour de France crown took on a knock on Sunday when key UAE Team Emirates-XRG lieutenant Joao Almeida was forced to drop out of the race.
Almeida suffered a fractured rib along with various cuts and scrapes after a 12-rider downhill pile-up at the Mur de Bretagne on Stage 7, limping home losing around 10 minutes on the day, yet still managing to get through the following day's action unscathed.
“It was good to see Joao finish the stage OK,” said race leader Pogacar after Stage 8, as thoughts began to turn to Monday's Stage 10 and its eight classified climbs among other challenges in the Massif Central. “Monday is a brutal stage but nobody is expecting Joao to kill himself for a bike race.”
Before the fall Almeida himself was also contention for a spot on the podium – starting Stage 7 in seventh place in the general classification – and would have been a contender throughout the mountainous second half of the Tour.
But the Portuguese rider's Tour is over for this year after the pain proved too much to bear, especially knowing the challenges coming hot on the horizon, and Pogacar will be a key man down.
“Sadly Joao had to abandon,” said Pogacar after Stage 9 which saw him maintain a 54-second lead over Remco Evenepoel. “It was too much to bear and I think everybody understands and wish him all the best.
"He could have done great things on a personal level here, and of course, he would have been a great help in the mountains, both mentally and physically.Now we'll adapt and continue."
Almeida finished fourth at the 2024 Tour de France and started this year's edition on the back of strong results elsewhere, having won the Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie and Itzulia Basque Country.
Pogacar, meanwhile, kept a firm grip on the leader's yellow jersey despite an epic breakaway attempt from Alpecin-Deceuninc duo Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert.
On a sun drenched slog from the Chinon vineyards, Van der Poel and Rickaert broke early and built up a lead of 5 min 30 sec on the flat roads to Chateauroux.
Rickaert won the combativity award for accompanying Van der Poel to within 10km of the line before slumping over his handlebars.
With his gung-ho all-in style Van der Poel grew his Tour de France legend here despite being caught with 700m to go, the plaudits will be both his and Merlier's.
As Van der Poel was reeled in, it looked as though Jonathan Milan would win a second consecutive stage but Tim Merlier got ahead with 50m remaining as Milan finished second with Arnaud De Lie completing the podium.
“One moment I thought I was boxed in but I can come out just before 200 metres or maybe just after, I don't know any more,” Merlier said. “I just go all in and I'm happy I can win my second stage here.”
Pogacar added: “Today was fast and furious thanks to the two guys in front and also the wind was blowing to make it hard.
"Tomorrow is a solid day. A proper climbing day, it does not look so hurtful on the profile but I think it is going to be a really hard race and we are ready."
It is a big day of climbing next up on what is Bastille Day in France with 4,400m of elevation gain across seven category-two climbs and a category-three ascent is likely to put the sprinters in trouble almost from the start on a stage that looks made for breakaway specialists.
Road signs in honour of British cycling great Mark Cavendish had been placed at entry points to Chateauroux – reading Cavendish City – in homage to the now-retired 40-year-old, after he won three stages there in 2008, 2011 and 2021.
Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
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How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz E 300 Cabriolet
Price, base / as tested: Dh275,250 / Dh328,465
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 245hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm @ 1,300rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
