The 22-year-old Belgian climber Lennert Van Eetvelt won the Jebel Hafeet stage in UAE Tour, surprising many bigger names. His late attack also secured the GC win as the Australian climbers Jay Vine and Ben O’Connor did not have their best day.

With Adam Yates crashing hard on a flat stage, there were no huge favourites for Jebel Hafeet like in the previous years with Tadej Pogačar, Adam Yates or Remco Evenepoel dropping huge w/kg on the famous climb. Jay Vine was the race leader before the final stage and Jebel Hafeet (10.9 km, 6.7%) suits his climbing profile.

It was a harder stage than usual in the UAE Tour with crosswinds challenging the peloton but it did not change almost anything before the climb and all the main GC guys started the climb together. Carlos Verona before Jebel Hafeet spent 2602 kilojoules for 3:15h, which is 11.42 kj/kg/h. Compared to European races it is still a very easy day before an FTP test on Hafeet.

Unfortunately for the UAE-Emirates Team, Brandon McNulty dropped very early on the climb with race leader Jay Vine doing the same in the following kilometres when the group was still huge. Vine had wasted some energy in the crosswinds and it may have played a part before Hafeet but his performance was not in line with his peak standards. The Australian is inconsistent in stage races, often crashing, and this was not his day.

With UAE-Emirates struggling in their home race, Ben O’Connor became the new virtual GC leader with his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale teammates pacing the climb. As there were no stacked climbing squads in this race, the pace was slow. There was a huge headwind blowing on the climb, which made drafting even more important. The last survivor of the breakaway Emanuel Buchmann was caught only with 2.5 km to go.

The biggest threat to O’Connor’s GC win was Pello Bilbao who has performed well on Jebel Hafeet in the previous editions. The Spaniard attacked multiple times but as everyone’s legs were not completely fatigued it was hard to gap his rivals in the headwind. 22-year-old Lennert Van Eetvelt attacked in the final 2 kilometres where the climb is relatively shallow. O’Connor’s legs were cooked from previous attacks and he could not pace the GC group to save his GC win. Van Eetvelt in a short period of time got a huge gap, beating Bilbao/O’Connor group by 22 seconds. With an extra ten bonus seconds from the win, Lotto Dstny secured the UAE Tour GC. Van Eetvelt beat O’Connor by 2 seconds which he gained on an intermediate sprint on one of the flat stages.

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Van Eetvelt did 6.28 ᵉW/Kg for 27:34 min on the climb. It was the second slowest Jebel Hafeet in a race only beating Tanel Kangert’s effort in the 2016 Abu Dhabi Tour, destroying Nicolas Roche and Mekseb Debesay. The pace was slow as there was strong headwind, no stacked GC teams pacing the first part of the climb or a super star climber like Adam Yates who could have dropped everyone in the steep middle part of the climb. O’Connor lost his GC with pushing 6.10 ᵉW/Kg for 27:56 min. Van Eetvelt already did a huge performance in early Mallorcan race, doing Puig Major in 32:41 min for 6:16 ᵉW/Kg. Both of his Puig Major and Jebel Hafeet performances are exactly the same on the power x time graph, with Jebel Hafeet probably having a higher normalized power as the climb was not steadily paced.

With a strong start list some of the best U25 climbers and Ardennes classics riders continued their season in France at the hilly Faun Ardeche Classic. After a hard effort on an 18 minute climb, Juan Ayuso won the reduced bunch sprint against his rivals.

Faun-Ardeche Classic was overshadowed by Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday but in the French 2. Pro race promising climbers like Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose, Igor Arrieta, Felix Gall lined up as well as veterans such as Michael Woods and Romain Bardet. With the parcours being full of longer climbs it was suited for GC riders who warm up before the European WorldTour stage races.

The Saint Romain de Lerps climb (6.3 km, 7.6%) usually is decisive in this race as it is almost 20 minutes long with a steep first two kilometres and is close to the finish. This year the organizers used the Les Arlettes side of the climb. Michael Woods spent 3061 kilojoules before the climb. 3:41 hours with 13,31 kj/kg/h. A medium intensity but nothing special for a one-day race.

Lidl-Trek was confident in their young leader Mattias Skjelmose as Quinn Simmons and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier paced the first part of the climb before the Dane attacked. Ghebreigzabhier extended his contract with Lidl-Trek very late at the start of the 2024 season and performed well to finish in the second group after giving all his energy before Skjelmose’s attack.

Juan Ayuso, Felix Gall and Romain Gregoire were the ones who could follow the acceleration with Ayuso later attacking and making Gall and others suffer badly. Gregoire was distanced after the Spaniard’s attack but paced himself back. Ayuso, Gall and Skjelmose all did 6.63 ᵉW/Kg for 17:33 min. Gregoire spent more in the draft and did 0.07 ᵉW/Kg less than the trio. It was surprising to see Gregoire performing at such a high level on an 18 minute climb. The young Frenchman is a punchy classics rider and has not previously performed on longer climbs such as Saint Romain de Lerps. In the Tour de Suisse he lost a minute to Skjelmose, Gall and Ayuso who all three finished in the top 3 on Villars-sur-Ollon climb, beating Remco Evenepoel. Gregoire has improved his climbing ability on longer climbs but he is unlikely to be a Grand Tour contender, being more in the shape of Julian Alaphilippe. Perhaps his teammate Lenny Martinez will be the young talented French rider destined to be a Tour de France GC rider.

Jonas Vingegaard on his first climbing test in 2024 was untouchable, dropping every GC contender on a 6% climb in a headwind, despite the draft advantage to those in his wheel.

The reigning Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard started his 2024 campaign in O Gran Camiño where he was untouchable last year, winning all three stages that were not cancelled. The Stage 1 time-trial was neutralized for GC standings due to strong wind, riders doing the time-trial on their road bikes. Vingegaard likely would have gained time on other GC contenders but as he is the best climber of the 21st century during his peak shape, it would take a huge climbing performance for anyone to beat him on the climbs here anyway.

It was raining and cold in Galicia as it is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and a cold snap has hit the Iberian Peninsula. Alto de San Pedro de Licora (5.2 km, 6.2%) is not a steep climb by pro cycling standards but as Visma-Lease a Bike brought a strong squad they would likely be aggresive. The stage was very hard before the final climb. Egan Bernal in the peloton burned 3199 kilojoules for 3:36 hours. That is 15.07 kj/kg/h, which is a high intensity day by Tour de France standards, which does not also feature these cold conditions. Wilco Kelderman did the first part of the San Pedro de Licora climb very hard, setting up his team leader for attack.

With 3.8 km to go on the climb, Vingegaard accelerated and opened a gap immediately. South American duo Egan Bernal and Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda bridged the gap and stayed on the Dane’s wheel on the shallow section. Later on the climb the last breakaway survivor Alex Molenaar was caught. Bernal and Cepeda could hold Vingegaard’s wheel on the 4.5% section as they saved many watts in the draft. A strong headwind also helped the South Americans but Vingegaard did not care and on the final part of the climb dropped both of them. Bernal lost contact with 1 km to go and completely blew up, losing 20 seconds in the last kilometre.

Vingegaard did 6.97 ᵉW/Kg for 11:24 min on the climb. But his performance was even more impressive as the peloton did the same climb 26 km previously at the same speed as the final repetition for the Lenny Martinez, Richard Carapaz and David Gaudu eight rider group who did 6.01 ᵉW/Kg for 12:15 min . The fatigue in the legs meant that Cepeda and Bernal pushed only 6.39 ᵉW/Kg for 11:44 min. Cian Uijtdebroeks who was chilling in the peloton and did not pace behind Vingegaard was fourth fastest with 6.14 ᵉW/Kg for 12:15 min.

The UAE Team Emirates with Adam Yates was the favourite to win on the mighty Jabal al Akhdar (The Green Mountain) in the Queen stage of the Tour of Oman. The Briton set a new record on the steep climb, indicating that it will be hard for anyone to challenge Yates in the upcoming UAE Tour on Jebel Hafeet.

With only 66 kilometres before Jabal al Akhdar, this meant that the annual Tour of Oman w/kg (5.7 km, 10%) festival would become even more impressive with very low fatigue before the climb. Anton Palzer before the final w/kg test spent 1078 kilojoules for 1:31h, which is 11.6 kj/kg/h—an easy pace for pro riders who after that could smash the climb basically fresh.

UAE-Emirates had brought an impressive squad with Adam Yates and Finn Fisher-Black who won the first hilltop finish and was wearing the red leader’s jersey. It was a cross tailwind on the climb and with the UAE mountain train pacing, it looked likely that the record would be broken again.

Adam Yates, who is a specialist at Jebel Hafeet in the UAE Tour, was confident in his legs and kept a high pace in the last kilometres of Jabal al Akhdar. Jan Hirt who won on the climb in 2022 was the only rider from the peloton who could attack from Yates’ initial pacing.

21-year-old Huub Artz was still ahead of them as the last survivor of the breakaway but he was caught by Yates and Hirt, finishing in the 3rd place. Yates at the end beat Hirt by 11 seconds and won the Tour of Oman GC. Cristian Rodriguez was the third fastest from the peloton and after him followed two UAE Emirates riders Finn Fisher-Black and Diego Ulissi.

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Yates did 6.79 ᵉW/Kg for 18:04 min, breaking the 2023 record set by Mauri Vansevenant and Matteo Jorgenson by 8 seconds. Vansevenant today finished 8th, losing 66 seconds to the winner. Yates’ performance is high for the February w/kg test but in the 2023 UAE Tour on Jebel Hafeet, he did a more impressive performance, beating Remco Evenepoel, pushing 6.72 ᵉW/Kg for 25:52 min. With no other superstar climbers going to the UAE Tour in 2024, it will be a hard task to beat the Tour de France podium finisher of last year. Fisher-Black, who finished 6th in the stage, did 6.51 ᵉW/Kg for 18:48 min, showing another good performance. 19-year-old riders Johannes Kulset and Alexy Faure Pros performed well for their age, finishing 9th and 11th on a pure w/kg test.

After impressive performances in the Tour de France Femmes where she finished 2nd overall, World Champion Lotte Kopecky won the UAE Tour Queen stage on Jebel Hafeet against strong climbers like Gaia Realini, Mavi Garcia and Neve Bradbury.

After dominating on Jebel Hafeet in the 2023 edition, Gaia Realini was the favourite to win in 2024. Lidl-Trek also sent to the UAE Tour the Italian champion, Elisa Longo Borghini, who finished first on Jebel Hafeet last year after the team decided she woul win over Realini. As the stage this year was flat and without crosswinds, this was a pure w/kg test for the riders.

Right before the climb started Petra Stiasny crashed in the peloton. The Fenix-Deceuninck pure climber lost a chance to battle for Top 10 but in the end finished 17th. Wiebes did fantastic work at the bottom of the climb, riding full gas and dropping most of the riders out of the peloton, repaying Kopecky for her brilliant leadouts of the previous two stages. After Wiebes finished her turn, Canyon//SRAM Racing took over for a brief moment until Gaia Realini increased the pace at the front, despite her teammate Longo Borghini being in the peloton. With 7 km to go, there were left only six riders in the group and Gladys Verhulst-Wild was caught as the last survivor from the breakaway.

Lidl-Trek tactics was not their best as clearly Realini is a stronger climber than Longo Borghini and, as the last 2.5 kilometres of Jebel Hafeet are shallow, it would make sense for Longo Borghini to sacrifice her chances and pace at the front of the group early. After Realini stopped setting her tempo, surprisingly Spanish champion Mavi Garcia started riding in the wind. Garcia was happy to ride at her pace in the wind for more than 10 minutes of the climb even after Realini attacked again and dropped her teammate Longo Borghini.

Before the shallow final kilometres, 2020 Zwift Academy winner Neve Bradbury made a powerful attack, distancing Garcia, Kopecky and Realini. Unfortunately for the Australian, Kopecky was strong enough to come back in the final kilometres on a 5% section and distance her at the end of the climb with a strong sprint. Kopecky can perform on unipuerto stages and she became the GC leader before the final sprint day.

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Kopecky and Bradbury did Jebel Hafeet in 32:28 min, pushing 5.10 ᵉW/Kg. Garcia lost 32 seconds but did almost the same effort with 5.09 ᵉW/Kg due to pacing in the wind for such a long time. In the 2023 edition, Realini climbed Jebel Hafeet in 33:48 min and in 2024 did it 37 seconds faster. 19-year-old Marion Bunel from St Michel – Mavic – Auber93 finished 5th. The young Frenchwoman performed well in Tour Down Under and upped her level in the UAE Tour. Very likely a World Tour team will sign her for 2025 as she is one of the most promising teenage climbers in cycling.

Despite Bora-Hansgrohe and Aleksandr Vlasov’s pacing on the steep La Frontera climb, the GC situation did not change during Volta a Valenciana Stage 5, with Brandon McNulty winning overall and Will Barta taking the stage with a 50 kilometre solo from a breakaway.

La Frontera (5.0 km, 9.3%) climb was again included in the fast and punchy 92.9-kilometre final stage, as was the case in the 2023 edition of Valenciana. With low fatigue before the climb, and only flat afterwards, it was the sole place on the parcours for teams to try to change the GC situation. Davide Piganzoli burned only 796 kilojoules in 58 minutes before La Frontera, which is 13.4 kj/kg/h. The 2023 edition showed that anything is possible in the finale of the race if La Frontera is paced aggressively, with Rui Costa winning the overall classification in the very final part of that race.

Bora-Hansgrohe tried to put pressure on the race leader Brandon McNulty, as their leader Aleksandr Vlasov was 17 seconds behind the American GC leader. The situation was almost the same as in the 2023 edition when Vlasov needed at least 8 seconds to surpass Giulio Ciccone in the GC. After the Bora-Hansgrohe mountain train had done the job, Vlasov attacked but could not get a gap and gave up on his efforts. All of the GC leaders were together near the top, with only Pello Bilbao attacking but he was caught immediately after.

Bilbao did La Frontera in 15:12 min, pushing 6.55 ᵉW/Kg. Group 2 with around 15 riders crossed the top of the climb 3 seconds later. Oier Lazkano was one of the riders in group 2 and his power meter on the climb averaged 527 watts for 15 minutes. Lazkano with a body of a Flemish classics specialist needed to produce way more total watts than any of the GC riders to stay with the group. Group 2 did 6.54 ᵉW/Kg for 15:15 min on the climb, with a slight tailwind. In the 2023 race, the pace was similar on La Frontera as Vlasov, Ciccone, Geoghegan Hart, Soler, Bilbao and Arensman did the climb in 15:07 min, which was 5 seconds faster than Bilbao this year.

The Queen stage of Volta a Valenciana finished up Alto del Miserat which is a very tough climb for so early in the season. Bora-Hansgrohe with Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov were one of the stronger teams on the climb but in the end American Brandon McNulty won on the steep ramps of Miserat with a well-timed attack.

The stage finish was moved to the top of Alto del Miserat with the final part of the stage being removed after an amateur cyclist died near the finish. Miserat (4.9 km, 10.35%) is one of the hardest climbs in the Valenciana region and is perfectly suited for climbers. The climb is irregular and includes multiple 14%+ steep sections. The race did not finish at the top of the full Miserat climb as there is almost no space at the very top.

The breakaway was caught early and all of the GC contenders were in the peloton. There were no big favourites in the race like Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič or Remco Evenepoel which meant the winner would not be that easy to predict. Jai Hindley, Aleksandr Vlasov, Pello Bilbao, Brandon McNulty and Santiago Buitrago were some of the better climbers who started in Volta a Valenciana. McNulty’s teammate Pavel Sivakov who was one of the favourites retired early from the race due to an injury.

It was not an easy stage before the final climb. Brandon McNulty spent 3,999 kilojoules for 4 hours and 4 minutes before Miserat. 14.15 kj/kg/h which is moderate intensity and is not far from Grand Tours. It was a hard day by February racing standards and is another data point showing that there are no ‘warm-up’ races any more.

Early in the climb, Bora-Hansgrohe were pacing for Aleksandr Vlasov and Jai Hindley. They had brought a strong team of Aleotti, Hajek, Kämna, Wandahl and Gamper to support their leaders. The race leader Alessandro Tonelli was dropped early on Miserat. The Italian surprisingly won stage 1 with his VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè teammate Manuele Tarozzi from a breakaway and gained over a minute in the GC.

McNulty was aggressive in the first half of the climb. After his acceleration, there were only Aleksandr Vlasov, Santiago Buitrago and Welay Hagos Berhe in group 1 with the American. The Ethiopian talent Berhe got dropped soon after as he went too deep trying to follow the leaders and was later caught and dropped by the group behind.

In the flatter section of the climb, the leading trio did not work well together and waited for the final steep ramp. Buitrago was saving energy behind Vlasov and McNulty, likely trusting his uphill punch to be enough for the win if they all came together to the finish. Less than 2 kilometres before the finish, whilst Buitrago was looking down and talking into his radio, McNulty attacked again and immediately opened a huge gap.

McNulty won the stage and became the GC leader before the final stage on Sunday, whilst Buitrago and Vlasov lost 12 seconds to the American. Despite the climb suiting lighter riders McNulty was dominant and earned another victory in an early season race, after some near misses in Mallorca in January.

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McNulty did the climb in 16:11 min, pushing 6.68 ᵉW/Kg. A strong performance for a February race with 3,999 kilojoules spent before the climb. Javier Romo, Igor Arrieta and Paul Double all did impressive climbing performances for their new teams as well as Bahrain-Victorious’ rider Rainer Kepplinger finishing 7th on the climb being a great start. In the team’s December training camp, the Austrian climber made a very impressive effort on Vall d’Ebo and looks to be an upgrade on his compatriot Pernsteiner, who he appears to have replaced in the team.