UAE Tour 2026 Stage 3

February 18, 2026 The first GC day on the road comes with a 183KM stage from Umm al Quwain to Jebel Mobrah. The first 170KM takes the riders North and East on one of the main highway that connects all of the Emirate cities along the Persian Gulf. There is brief incursion into the city of Ras Al-Khaimah before heading back into the desert to the base of the final climb. A rock slide on Jebel Jais has forced the organizers of the UAE Tour to find a substitute climb to give the GC men two changes on a summit finish. Jebel Mobrah will be used for the first time ever and is one of the hardest climbs that the peloton will do all season. Jebel Mobrah is 13.2KM in length and averages 8.1% but there is a 1,500M section in the middle that goes downhill, bringing the average deceptively down. The first 5KM of the climb averages 7.5% followed by the downhill section. When the road rises again, the riders will face 6.5KM at almost 12%. The climb is so hard and so early in the season that the favorites group might be a stalemate until further up the mountain for fear of completely blowing up. However it will be raced, the views should be stunning looking down from the barren, rocky landscape. Like Stage 1, Silvan Dillier of Alpecin-Premier Tech was the first attacker and there was very little interest in joining the Swiss but his teammate, Jonas Rickaert, was coerced out and the pair formed the early move. They built over 8 minutes on the peloton as a maximum advantage and with 46KM to go, they still had 4 minutes 20 seconds. They managed to average 46KM/HR up to this point and it brought back memories of Stage 9 of last year's Tour de France when Rickaert was away with Mathieu van der Poel but their chances of survival today were almost zero. It was a warm day so riders in the peloton took their last chance at getting bottles and ice back in the cars. The gap went out again to 5 minutes 20 seconds with 34KM to go but teams were getting organized with Decathlon CMA CGM, Modern Adventure, and XDS-Astana lined up at the front. After the intermediate sprint with 22KM to go, the peloton started to liven up and think more about positioning as they approached the right turn off the main highway. Dillier and Rickaert made a tight right turn with 14.5KM to go to start Jebel Mobrah with a lead of 1 minute 40 seconds. When the peloton reached the same point, Lotto Intermarché were prominent on the front along with Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and EF-Education EasyPost. Dillier and Rickaert were caught with 11.8KM to go as they gave a waive goodbye to the cameras. The road reached 8% and the trap door opened at the back of the peloton with many riders calling it a day. The first move came early by Chris Harper of Pinarello Q36.5 with 11KM to go and the peloton still 70 riders strong. Decathlon CMA CGM were leading the bunch and held Harper at 10 seconds, bringing the Aussie back with 8.4KM to go. Decathlon CMA CGM continued to lead through the brief downhill but at 6.5KM to go, they gave way to Bahrain Victorious. The gradients pushed 16% and the majority of the peloton pulled the parachute. The first GC moves came from Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM who didn't make a full attack but rather a slight increase in pace. The group stretched and the first casualty was Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG who drifted backwards and was quickly 30 seconds down. Race leader, Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, came across to Gall as did Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious who was riding the mountain like a time trial. Gall created separation with 5KM to go and Tiberi and Evenepoel settled back into the GC favorites chase group which numbered around 15 riders. Gall extended his lead on a new first chase group which contained Tiberi, Luke Plapp of Jayco AlUla, and Harold Tejada of XDS-Astana. The remaining favorites eased up and del Toro made a recovery and managed to bridge back up. Adam Yates of UAE-XRG took control of the group and slowly wound up the pace. Evenepoel dropped out of the back and seemed to be suffering from cramp. With 3.5KM to go, the road twisted its way up the spine of the mountain side, curling around left and right making beautiful serpentine bends. Tiberi found himself at the front of the race, ahead of Gall, Plapp, and Tejada by 20 seconds, the Yates GC group by 40 seconds, and Evenepoel capitulating at 1 minute 20 seconds. With 2.8KM to go, Yates took his final turn on the front and del Toro accelerated. Lennert Van Eetvelt of Lotto Intermarché was the only other rider to follow and they were quickly across to Gall, Plapp, and Tejada. Del Toro hit the gas with 1,500M to go and dropped everyone as he went in pursuit of Tiberi. At 1KM remaining, Tiberi had 20 seconds but there was a visible difference in pedaling style between Tiberi and del Toro who seemed to be gaining ground. Del Toro closed another 5 seconds but spent all the energy he had and couldn't come any closer. Tiberi made a few more efforts out of the saddle, zipped up his jersey, and crossed the line as the first winner atop Jebel Mobrah. Del Toro came across 15 seconds later with Van Eetvelt in third at 29 seconds. Tiberi now leads the GC by 21 seconds on del Toro and 1 minute on Tejada. Van Eetvelt sits fourth at 1 minute 7 seconds and Evenepoel dropped to eleventh, 1 minute 44 seconds down.