BREAKDOWN: Algarve, Andalucía, Alpes and UAE Tour Takeaways
Spencer Martin gives his Race Breakdown from the busy weekend of racing. Remco Evenepoel, Wout Poels and Jasper Philipsen won races. GCN+ has the most comprehensive live & ad-free coverage of the UAE Tour 2022 on GC+. It includes interactive with live polls, quizzes, and rider profiles.
The weekend's top performances from the sport's best talents were highlighted.
Remco Evenepoel won the overall title at Algarve. It is his 25th pro win at the age of 22. Only three of his pro wins have been at WorldTour level. He is second only to Eddy Merckx's 27 pro victories at same age.
This is the second career overall win for Tadej Pogačar at Algarve. He has now 25 pro wins at the age of 22. Only three of his wins have been at WorldTour level.
Miguel Ángel López won the Andalucía Tour. His Astana team screwed up their strategy in the stage 4 finale and almost certainly cost him the overall win. Alexey Lutsenko rode clear with Lónel Poels in final few kilometers. Lonel had to chase his teammate to no avail. He was 10 seconds behind Poelens.
López lost the race lead to his teammate Alexey Lutsenko. He was 10 seconds behind Wout Poels. It's clear that López's Astana team lacks the tactical nous or dedication to help him get back onto grand tour overall podiums.
Wout Poels won the UAE Tour. It was his first GC victory in six years. He was overtaken by López on stage 5 summit finish.
Poels won the UAE Tour de France. He was in good form at the weekend. Poels took the overall win.
Simon Yates finished fifth overall despite looking the strongest of the GC contenders. Alessandro Covi is in form with wins in Andalucía and Murcia.
He missed the obvious breakaway at the end of stage 4. He has entered the veteran stage of his career.
Lennard Kämna won the final stage of the Tour de France. Bora-Hansgrohe played the odds by showing teamwork in the last stage.
Kämna won the stage.
Magnus Sheffield, 19, won stage 3 and finished third in stage 5. Ineos takes a venture capital approach with young talent. Wout Poels is back on the Tour.
Sheffield won stage 3 and finished third in stage 5. She is one of Ineos' rare development hits.
Ineos finished 3rd overall at Andalucía. Dani Martínez's stage 4 time trial performance was the only bright spot for Ineos. They didn't find any obvious solutions to their grand tour contender depth issues.
The team that dominated one-week stage races in 2021 didn't do well in the UAE Tour. Martínez finished second in stage 4, 32 seconds behind Stefan Küng.
Nairo Quintana won the overall race. He stormed clear in the final kilometers of both stages 2 and 3. Quinta's Arkea team recently turned down an invitation to the Giro d'Italia.
Quintana is riding well at the moment but needs to improve his watts per kilo climbing performances before the Tour. His Arkea team recently turned down an invitation to the Giro d'Italia.
Watch the most comprehensive live & ad-free coverage of the UAE Tour 2022 on GCN+. Go deeper and get interactive with live polls, quizzes, and rider profiles.
Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the first WorldTour race of this season. He is a rider from the Alpecin-Fenix team.
Philipen won the first WorldTour race of the season. He did it by squeezing Dylan Groenewegen against the barriers.
Sam Bennett came into the UAE Tour looking to prove he is still one of the sport's top sprinters after a difficult 2021 season. He was beaten by a faster Philipsen but he was forced to make up a lot of space in the final hundred meters after being left too far back by his Bora team’s lead-out.
Bennett was forced to make up space in the final hundred meters after being left too far back by his Bora team’s lead-out.
Magnus Sheffield was impressive in the UAE Tour. Spencer Martin is the author of the cycling-analysis newsletter Beyond the Peloton.
