TARLING, THE RECORDS BREAKER

 Joshua Tarling confirmed his status as main favorite, setting a record speed for the UAE Tour at 56.671 km/h and becoming the youngest rider to wear the Red Jersey. The British champion covered the 12.2 km of the Tudor ITT in a time of 12’55”, beating Stefan Bissegger by 13” and Tadej Pogacar by 18”. Further back among the GC contenders, Pello Bilbao finished at 39”, Giulio Ciccone at 42”, Carlos Rodriguez at 43”, Alexey Lutsenko at 45”, and defending champion Lennert Van Eetvelt at 46”. Behind them the former Red Jersey Jonathan Milan, who finished at 1'13". Tomorrow, the Ras Al Khaimah-Jebel Jais will represent the first big chance for the climbers.

Joshua Tarling was awarded the Red Jersey by Fouad Darwish - Ceo at Palm Sports - and H.E. Rasheid Abdulkarim Al Blooshi - Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 - Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers)
2 - Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) at 13"
3 - Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) at 18"

Stage winner Joshua Tarling was awarded by H.E. Rasheid Abdulkarim Al Blooshi - Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development - and H.E. Aref Al Awani - General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council

STAGE RESULTS
1 - Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), 12.2km in 12’55”, average speed 56.671 km/h
2 - Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) at 13"
3 - Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) at 18"

H.E. Aref Al Awani - General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council - awarded Joshua Tarling with a Tudor watch

THE OFFICIAL JERSEYS

The leader jerseys of the UAE Tour are provided by ALÉ, proud jersey partner of the leader jersey by ENIT and ITALIA.IT.

• Red Jersey, leader of the General Classification, sponsored by International Holding Company: IHC - Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Green Jersey, leader of the Points Classification, sponsored by Mubadala -Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) - worn by Jonathan Milan (Lidl - Trek)
• White Jersey, Best Young Rider, sponsored by Nakheel - Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) - worn by Pablo Castrillo (Movistar Team)
• Black Jersey, leader of the Intermediate Sprint Classification, sponsored by ALDAR - Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group BardianiCSF-Faizanè)

Green Jersey Joshua Tarling was awarded by Ms Maitha Abdulla Al Harmoodi - Senior Associate by Mubadala - and H.E. Al Nakhira Al Khaili - Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club

PRESS CONFERENCE
Speaking in the press conference, the stage winner and Red Jersey Joshua Tarling said: "I had a bit of a bumpy end of last season, I just needed to regain confidence and it’s exciting to be here for that. It was a mix of bad luck and competing against guys like Remco [Evenepoel] and [Filippo] Ganna. After the Olympics, I was struggling a bit at la Vuelta. I did my first altitude training camp at the Teide to prepare for today’s time trial. I had more chances to beat Tadej [Pogacar] on a flat course like this. I used a 68x11 gear. I’m not going to let the jersey go easy tomorrow. Carlos [Rodriguez] is a better climber than me, and obviously there’s Tadej, but I’ll try to hold on as long as I can. The season looks pretty good this year".

White Jersey Joshua Tarling was awarded by H.E. Yaqoob Al Saadi - CEO of Abu Dhabi Sports Channels - and H.E. Engineer Abdullah Al Yazidi -
General Secretary Abu Dhabi Council for Quality and Conformity

STATISTICS

• At 56,671 kph, Joshua Tarling set the new record for a TT at the UAE Tour, beating the 55,929 kph of Filippo Ganna on stage 2, 2021.
• Joshua Tarling turned 21 three days ago: he becomes the second-youngest winner at the UAE Tour after Mathias Vacek (19 years 8 months 13 days, Dubai 2022), the youngest from the UK.
• 4th stage win for the UK at the UAE Tour after stage 3 2020 (Adam Yates), stage 2 2022 (Mark Cavendish), stage 7 2023 (Adam Yates).
• At 21 years and 3 days, Joshua Tarling is the youngest ever leader in the history of UAE Tour, beating Luke Plapp (22 years 63 days, stage 2, 2023).

Manuele Tarozzi was awarded the Black Jersey by Mr. Mehdi Zaouali - Representative of ALDAR - and H.E. Aref Al Awani - General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council

TOMORROW'S STAGE - STAGE 3, RAS AL KAIMAH-JEBEL JAIS, 181 KM - RAS AL KHAIMAH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY STAGE

The route

The first of the two mountain stages of the UAE Tour. The stage is divided into two distinct parts. The first one approaches the final mountain by undulating through the desert, while the last one features approximately 20 km of continuous climbing all the way to the finish. Starting in Ras al Khaimah, the race reaches Al Marjan Island and returns to the desert. After the Ras al Khaimah airport, the race heads straight for Jais Mountain. The final climb is approximately 20 km long with a constant 5% gradient, with slightly higher gradients around 7% in the last 2 km.

Final kilometres

The final climb winds through hairpin bends on a very wide roadway. Gradients are mainly around 4-5% in the first part and 5-7% in the second one, peaking at 9% around 2 km from the finish. The finish is on straight asphalt roads

Joshua Tarling’s stage-winning data, produced by Velon

To find out more about the UAE Tour, including details of the official race route, jerseys and sponsors, visit www.theuaetour.com.