Einer Rubio celebrates birthday with UAE Tour stage three win atop Jebel Jais

Einer Rubio of Movistar celebrated his 25th birthday by winning stage three of the UAE Tour on top of Jebel Jais on Wednesday.

Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep and the UAE Team Emirates rider Adam Yates took second and third in the first of the two mountain stages of the seven-day event, which is the only World Tour race in the Middle East.

The second place-finish made Evenepoel the overall leader after previously sharing the lead with Luke Plapp of Ineos Grenadiers.

Einer attacked on the final climb and managed to defend his lead all the way to the finish, crossing the line 14 seconds ahead of the leading riders challenging for the general classification.

Results

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“In the last kilometres, I had doubt that they might come back and catch me, but I still had the strength to push on,” Rubio said of his first professional victory.

“For me, it’s very special for my career. I’ve had a lot of problems in previous years and I didn’t have the opportunity to express my talent like I would have liked.

“For me and my family, it’s an incredible day, and I hope now I can continue on the same road. It’s my birthday too, so I couldn’t have asked for a better present.”

Rubio went on the offensive in the company of teammate Albert Torres, and then pressed on alone to open a lead of almost a minute over the chasing group.

The Colombian still had a 45-second advantage when he entered the final 3km and he managed his lead comfortably to take the honours.

Evenepoel admitted his disappointment at missing out on victory, but his sprint has put him on course to claim overall victory at the UAE Tour.

Pello Bilbao of Bahrain Victorious, third overall at 11 seconds, is the only other rider within a minute of the Belgian.

“Of course, it’s a pity as we came so close to the first guy for the victory,” Evenepoel said. “I think with my sprint, I could have won the stage, but in the end the red jersey is a very nice reward also for the team.

“We had some bad luck, a few guys had a flat tyre on the climb and they had to come back, so we couldn’t actually execute the plan like we wanted.

“I wanted some guys to really speed up in the last kilometres so we could maybe catch the guy and I could do my sprint, but I think everybody was really strong today.”

UAE Team Emirates rider Yates said: “We tried to put pressure on the other teams on the final climb and to be aggressive but we always knew there was a good chance things would stay together which they mostly did."

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Tank warfare

Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.

“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.

“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”

MATCH INFO

Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 18', 24')

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Red card: Alisson (Liverpool)

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Gifts exchanged

King Charles - replica of President Eisenhower Sword
Queen Camilla - Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch
Donald Trump - hand-bound leather book with Declaration of Independence
Melania Trump - personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag

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.”