Remco Evenepoel had another good day at the UAE Tour as his Soudal Quick-Step won a 17.3km team time trial round the port of Khalifa.
The collective win puts the Belgian rider level top of the overall standings with Ineos Grenadiers’ Luke Plapp after two of the seven stages.
Both riders were part of a masterful breakaway in a blustery cross wind on Monday when a clutch of riders made it home 51sec ahead of UAE Team Emirates leader Adam Yates.
“We wanted to stay all together until we came out of the headwind and then some guys used all their energy to do one last pull. To win it by one second is pretty crazy. It’s my first ever TTT victory and to do it in this race with back-to-back victories is pretty special,” Evenepoel said after the race.
UAE Team Emirates lost another 15 seconds here on his first major outing since joining the home side, who are riding without their iconic double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar.
Wednesday’s stage will shake up the leaderboard even further as it leaves the pretty seaside district of Umbrella Beach to head out across the desert. The riders then have 20km of continuous above five percent incline as they climb up the Jebel Jais mountain.
