The melodramatic exclamation was justified after the three-time ITT world champion faltered badly on the climb and finished 18th, a full 2 minutes behind the day’s surprise winner, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), and 1:45 behind race co-favourite Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates).
In the end, Evenepoel finished tenth in the final GC, 2:25 behind del Toro, who won the race with a gargantuan effort on the race’s other difficult summit finish, the Jebel Hafeet (10.6 km @ 6.9%) on Saturday’s stage 6. He laboured mightily and had to ride a long time in the red to drop the courageous Tiberi, who finished second in the GC, at 20 seconds. Jayco AlUla’s Luke Plapp finished third, 1:14 adrift.
So what happened to Evenepoel?
Apparently, Evenepoel suffered a cramp in his right thigh on the Jebel Modrah, where he was seen punching the afflicted spot in an attempt to relax the muscle. But later, talking to hln.be, he admitted that he had simply made a tactical error. “In terms of pacing, I did the climb wrong,” he explained. “It’s funny, actually, because beforehand, I had agreed with [sports director] Klaas [Lodewyck] not to get caught by the first attackers. Yet that’s exactly what happened. It was reckless, overconfident, and tactically not smart. Maybe I did it this way because I saw Isaac struggling, but in the end, he just paced himself smartly.”
At the time, del Toro was riding near the back of the peloton, apparently having trouble with the ascent. But perhaps the plucky Mexican was just bluffing and trying to goad Evenepoel into committing the very error he committed? And as for Evenepoel’s overconfidence, it’s possible that his early success in previous races – six wins in 11 days – had him thinking he was invincible. But those victories came on short climbs against lesser opposition. And perhaps his victory in the stage 2 ITT – by 6 seconds over Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers) and a whopping 41 seconds over del Toro – also contributed to his fatal audacity.
Whatever false conclusions motivated him, Evenepoel blamed his early attack for the cramps he suffered. “Breathing-wise, everything was normal, but my muscles were very tight,” he said. “It was a very explosive time trial, and I was pushing very high wattages. It was a real strain on my muscles. That’s probably why I got cramps.” In any case, all the optimism inspired by his early victories was lost in the UAE Tour and he and his team will be going back to the drawing board and altitude to prepare for his next challenge, the Volta a Catalunya, where he will face João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates–XRG), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike), Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling).
The next Pogačar?
As for del Toro, he did nothing in the race – except perhaps that uncharacteristically weak ITT – to damage his prospects of becoming the team’s next superstar. If he did bluff Evenepoel on that climb, he also did himself no favours because he was so far back when he started his attack, he was never able to catch Tiberi, finishing 24 seconds behind the Italian on the stage. But the effort he made on the final 4.2km of the Jebel Hafeet climb to shake Tiberi and retake the GC leadership was truly impressive. Del Toro can go very deep to win. That’s the mark of a champion.
“This is just a mentality game, that you can be confident enough to keep trying and, of course, if one time it doesn’t work, you still need to have it in your head that you’re able to do it,” Del Toro said after his efforts on stage 6. “Today, we were not confident that we will win, but we had the mentality that we would work for it. I needed to keep going until the line. When I saw the gap, I tried to believe and increase the gap as much as I can.”
It’s important to keep in mind that del Toro is only 22 and has not yet reached full physical and mental maturity, which he is frank enough to admit. “I think today is one of the top three victories in my career,” he said. “It’s so special, and when you win with a team like this, it’s even more special. Now, it’s time to realise that I’m working for it and I need to believe more in myself day by day.”
Milan does the triple
Jonathan Milan won all three bunch sprints in the UAE Tour in such a convincing manner that, barring injury or illness, it’s hard to see him losing many sprints this year. Sure, he didn’t face the top sprinters here – no Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Premier Tech), Tim Merlier or Paul Magnier (both Soudal Quick-Step), Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) or Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling) – but he’s already got five victories and two green jerseys on his Palmares for this year, and he just looks like a monster on the bike.
“It’s really nice to end this UAE Tour with this victory,” Milan said. “Today was a super-fast stage and also hard with the wind and the super-strong break. We had to control it, and we did really well. I want to say thanks for the huge efforts my teammates did in this UAE Tour. We showed that we are one of the best teams, so I’m happy with the victories and also with how we did the race.”
Final GC Standings, 2026 UAE Tour
- Isaac del Toro, UAE Team Emirates–XRG 18:13:42
- Antonio Tiberi, Bahrain Victorious +0:20
- Luke Plapp, Jayco AlUla +1:14
- Harold Tejada, XDS Astana +1:25
- Felix Gall, Decathlon CMA CGM +1:34
- Lennert Van Eetvelt, Lotto Intermarché +1:44
- Derek Gee-West, Lidl-Trek +1:47
- Jørgen Nordhagen, Visma–Lease a Bike +1:55
- Tobias Halland Johannessen, Uno-X Mobility +2:08
- Remco Evenepoel, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe +2:25