Oscar Onley 2nd in all-out sprint battle between the climbers on Jebel Jais

The first mountain-top finish of the UAE Tour awaited the peloton on Wednesday afternoon, where they would take on the wide roads and steady gradients of the Jebel Jais climb . Team Picnic PostNL set out to keep GC finisher Oscar Onley safe and do that they did, with the squad keeping him out of the wind and looked after throughout the stage.

The peloton was always in control and the break of the day was reeled in as they hit the lower slopes of the climb. From there, the pace ramped up and after being supported by well by the team, Onley was dropped off in a good position inside the last five kilometres. As the remaining kilometres ticked down, the pace increased even further and things were strung out going under the flamme rouge. Onley headed around the final corner in fourth wheel when the stinging uphill sprint opened up. Kicking hard, Onley came around two others and kept pushing all the way to the line to finish in a strong second place on the day, just behind stage-winner Pogacar.

Onley expressed: “The guys did a good job looking after me throughout the stage and keeping morale high on what was a long day. I banked on my sprint in the final and managed to pick up second place. I’m feeling good and hopefully can make up some GC time on Sunday.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Roy Curvers added: “The guys kept Oscar safe the whole day so he could give it a shot on the last climb. With a lot of control in the peloton it came down to a sprint from quite a big group. Oscar did a really nice effort and was able to grab second place, which is a nice reward. Of course, you always want to win but when it needs the best rider in the world to keep you from winning, then you have to be satisfied with second place as well.”