Although the 4th stage of the UAE Tour, won in a bunch sprint by Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek), was more or less flat, Tadej and his teammates had plenty of work to do. This was due to the windy conditions, which split the peloton into several echelons, but Tadej, along with his UAE Team Emirates – XRG teammates, was careful enough to stay at the front.
Some of his rivals for the overall lead found themselves in trouble, but eventually caught up with the front. Thus, Tadej retained an 18-second lead over Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) in the red leader’s jersey.
»When the echelons formed, my goal was to stay safe and not lose time. You have fun in the echelons if you’re in the front, but it’s not fun if you fall behind. The initiative wasn’t ours, we followed the moves, but I’m always up for action. I enjoyed today. The team did an amazing job, when it was important, we were always at the front. It was hard, but also fun, it was a good day for us. We didn’t plan to leave our rivals behind, but in such windy stages, it’s always better to finish in smaller groups than in the main bunch, where the action in the last kilometers is hectic,« Tadej explained today’s tactics.
He still has two flat and probably windy stages ahead of him, and on Sunday the UAE Tour will conclude with a climb to Jebel Hafeet. So far, according to Tadej, there has been no shortage of action on the desert roads: »This is definitely a good race to prepare for the rest of the season, some think it’s just easy stages, but there’s some action every day, and you have to put in some effort in each one. That’s why it’s also a good test to prepare for the upcoming classic races.«