The route of the UAE Tour 2026: New tough mountain finish at Jebel Mobrah

One thing seems certain ahead of the 8th edition of the UAE Tour stage race from 16 to 22 February in the United Arab Emirates: There will be a new overall winner after seven stages. Tadej Pogacar, who triumphed last year by 1:14 minutes ahead of Italian Giulio Ciccone, will not wear a race number for the first time in the 2026 season until 8 March. His rivals can therefore expect to have a chance of winning the first tough stage race of the year. The seven-day race with a mixture of flat stages, an individual time trial and two mountain top finishes is ideal for tour specialists preparing for the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Red Bull), Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE) and Felix Gall (Austria/Decathlon) are on the provisional start list. Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma) has cancelled his originally planned start. cancelled due to health problems.

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New maximum difficulty

The course has become even more difficult compared to last year. In addition to the ascent to Jebel Jafeet (stage 6), there is a second difficult mountain finish this year. The 3rd stage is a very steep climb to the finish on the 1229 metre high Jebel Mobrah. The road has an average gradient of 8.1 per cent over 13.2 kilometres. The last almost seven kilometres of the road, which was only completed in 2024, even have an average gradient of 11.8 per cent. This makes the climb significantly more difficult than the one up Jebel Jais, which was the scene of a second mountain finish last year. In addition to the mountain finishes on the 3rd and 6th stages, the 13.2 kilometre individual time trial on the 2nd stage is likely to be decisive for the overall standings. The other sections of the day could become terrain for the top sprinters, which will probably include the Italian Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).