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Adam Yates enters final stretch trip to the uae On Sunday, expect him to turn around a difficult start to Jabel Hafeet, the same climb that effectively won the UAE title in 2020.
In 2020, Yates led by a minute ahead of future UAE teammate Tadej Pogačar on the first ascent of Jebel Hafeet, then finished third on the race’s second summit on the same climb a few days later .
The game was then suspended due to COVID-19, but Yates’ dominance in the mountains was beyond doubt.
currently lying 10th place after stage 6who crossed the finish line safely in 68th place after losing time in the opening crosswind stage, Yates remains a distant but obvious threat to GCIn fact, race leader Remko Evenpuel (Soudal-QuickStep) told reporters earlier this week that he wouldn’t rule out Yates launching a major challenge against Jebel Hafeet in the 10km. attack.
In a calm defiant mood before the start of Stage 6, the Briton said he would go for the best and, as he repeatedly said, he had “nothing to lose” at this point in the race .
“It’s a better climb for me than Jebel Jais, which is pretty steady and regular, but Jebel Hafeet is a very different beast, 8% difficulty at 10km, so it’s an appropriate climb.
“It used to work fine for me, we were a bit behind on GC, but we have nothing to lose, so we’ll do our best and see what happens.”
Yates, who is racing his first race of 2023, said he has a greater understanding of his car and “I’m in good shape. It’s never been easy to do that, but somehow, I Always manage to get here and at least be at the top of the fight and the competition.”
“There weren’t many stages for me in this race, Jebel Jais wasn’t the perfect climb for me, but even there I finished second in the sprint [behind Evenepoel] The other day, so I have a good chance tomorrow. We will wait and see. “
As for Evenepoel’s comment that despite being 1:14 behind, Yates could still tear the game apart, Yates’ reaction was cautious, but he didn’t seem to rule anything out.
“As I said, I have nothing to lose, the team is motivated and as we’ve said from the beginning, we’re here to win,” Yates concluded.
“We lost some time in the first period, some time here and there, so it might be tricky to win. But at the end of the day, we have nothing to lose and we will try.”
After outright winning their ‘home’ games in 2021 and 2022 with Tadej Pogačar, who opted to play in Andalusia rather than the Middle East, the Emirates team have taken some steps to restore their morale. any dents and put in a good sprint for Juan Sebastian Molano’s victory in Dubai Creek on Stage 4.
Even claiming it looks tough overall, chasing a Stage 2 victory on the race’s most iconic climb — whether with Yates, Brandon McNulty or another option — is sure to be a good way for the home team to finish.
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