UAE Tour 2023: Evenepoel seals overall victory, UAE Team Emirates rider Yates wins final stage

Evenepoel then overtook Yates while Kuss fell behind the pair only for the world champion to fall short with 3km remaining. The Belgian rider did well after initially falling 15 seconds behind, but even after a spirited performance he could not keep up with Yates’ acceleration and had to settle for second on the stage, 10 seconds down on the Briton.

Third place

Geoffrey Bouchard of AG2R-Citroën took third with Kuss finishing fourth. Pello Bilbao of Bahrain Victorious and Luke Plapp of Ineos came fifth and sixth respectively. Plapp sealed second overall while Bilbao was bumped off the podium by Yates thanks to his time bonus for the stage victory.

“The tactic was to go full gas at the bottom. 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,” Yates said. “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.”

Having marked his first win as world champion, Evenepoel will feel confident with the Giro d’Italia next 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.”