AlUla Tour 2025 Stage 5

February 1, 2025 It's not a difficult day by the profile but the wind could be a factor with forecasts of 30KM/HR at times. At 167KM in length, Stage 5 starts and finishes at the AlUla Camel Cup Track. They enter a finishing circuit with 17KM to go and will get the bell lap the first time through the finish line. The first two hours were ridden at over 48KM/HR as echelons formed due to the highest wind speeds so far this week. Nicolas Vinokurov of XDS-Astana, Mathias Bregnhøj of Terengganu Cycling, Nicolò Garibbo of JCL Team UKYO, and Cériel Desal of Wagner-Bazin WB got away only at 67KM to go when the peloton reformed after turning into a headwind. The bunch made a right and exited the AlUla Oasis at 30KM to go onto an open road with wind blowing left to the right. Uno-X Mobility and Bahrain-Victorious instigated the hostilities and were intent on forcing more splits. The tactic backfired on Bahrain-Victorious however as Rainer Kepplinger was distanced. Jayco AlUla also had a disaster brewing because Alan Hatherly was dropped and stuck in the group with Kepplinger. The four leaders were caught with 26.5KM to go by a peloton of no more than 40 riders. The two groups got close to coming together and Stephan De Bod of Terengganu Cycling jumped clear of the chase in a bridge attempt. He was stuck in the middle for a number of kilometers but did an incredible ride to get up to the front with 18KM to go. The race turned into a team pursuit between Uno-X Mobility in the front and Bahrain-Victorious in the chase. Uno-X Mobility led the bunch through a tailwind finishing straight at warp speed for one final 8.5KM lap. The chase came through over 30 seconds later which put Hatherly and Kepplinger's podium spots into jeopardy. The gap continued to nudge out to over 40 seconds with 3.5KM to go which put the Uno-X Mobility riders of Johannes Kulset and Fredrik Dversnes into second and third overall. Race leader Tom Pidcock of Q36.5 went to the front with 3KM to keep the pace high. Jayco AlUla led out for the final kilometer with Q36.5 sitting in tight in the fastest run in to a finish that I can remember. Juan Sebastián Molano of UAE-XRG kicked first around 250M from the line. Matteo Moschetti of Q36.5 and Alexander Kristoff of Uno-X Mobility were neck and neck but Moschetti had an extra gear. Moschetti came storming passed Molano to take another victory for Q36.5 to cap off the best week of racing in their team history. Dylan Groenewegen of Jayco AlUla came through on Molano's left and pipped him for second place. In the GC, Tom Pidcock won by 1 minute and 9 seconds to a raft of Uno-X Mobility riders. With their work in the cross winds, they moved Fredrik Dversnes into second, Johannes Kulset into third, and Ådne Holter into fourth place. Kepplinger and Hatherly were the big losers of the day, dropping down to fifth and sixth respectively.