Adam Yates marks end of UAE Tour 2023 with stage victory for home team

UAE Team Emirates secure second stage triumph as Remco Evenepoel emerges as overall winner

UAE Team Emirates rider Adam Yates won the final stage of UAE Tour 2023. Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency

UAE Team Emirates rider Adam Yates won the seventh and final stage while world champion Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep sealed overall victory in the UAE Tour at Jebel Hafeet on Sunday.

Yates began his onslaught at the six-kilometre marker, pursued by Evenepoel and Jumbo-Visma’s Sepp Kuss.

Soudal-QuickStep's Belgian rider picked up the pace to cut down a 15-second lead by five seconds to take second spot behind Yates and clinch the fifth edition of the UAE Tour, the only World Tour race in the Middle East.

Pello Bilbao of Bahrain Victorious and Ineos Grenaders rider Luke Plapp crossed the line 54 seconds behind.

That was enough for Plapp to hold on to second spot overall, 59 seconds behind Evenepoel. Yates's stage win with the bonus points moved him above Bilbao to third place.

“The tactic was to go full gas at the bottom,” Yates said. "We had nothing to lose. I was so far down on the GC after the crosswind stage, we just had to go all out from the bottom and see what happened.

“The guys did an amazing job. I attacked quite early but I knew I had to push really hard to drop the guys. And finally, I managed to do it. I want to say a big thank you to my team.”

For Evenepoel, overall victory at the UAE Tour marked his first win as world champion and marks an important milestone on his way to the Giro d'Italia in May.

“It’s the first race I came to try to do a good GC,” he said. “I haven’t gone to altitude yet, I’ll go in a few days, so I can only improve. But I can be really happy and proud with the shape I have now.

“It was hard out there. I thought Yates was going to stay on my wheel and then jump in the last few hundred metres, and I would have been happy with that. But in the end I had to go over the limit to keep up with him.

“I was happy I could always see him in front of me, so I knew the overall victory was mine.

“I am really happy with this overall victory - I was there every day and on the two mountain stages I finished in second place. As a team we can be very proud. We're going home with three stage wins and the Red Jersey - and this is my first race victory as the world champion.”