UAE Tour 2022 – Stage 3

A time trial to spice things up. It is very short and very flat.

It has two corners. A right turn 200 meters and a U-turn halfway through.

Weather

The wind will blow from the west with 9 m/s. It means the riders will go bloody quick to the checkpoint at the u-turn, but will have to really push it on their way back. The terrain is very open.

The riders start at 14:15 and the last one goes down the ramp at 16:19. It looks like everyone will have the same winds tomorrow.

Contenders

Back at the Worlds in Imola 2020, tailwind showed the once with a lot of power goes very fast in the tailwind but the headwind is for the specialists.

Ganna is the big favorite tomorrow. He is already 2/2 this year with similar lengths. It is his stage to lose.

Pogacar will look to put time into Yates and Vlasov tomorrow. With the headwind, I doubt he will win but it an important day for him nonetheless.

Almeida is in the same boat as his teammate. He is in my opinion too light to win. In theory, UAE Team Emirates should be in a good position tomorrow.

Price-Pejtersen is a big guy. European and World Champion U23 last year. Bahrain has hired Martin Toft Madsen in their process to get better times against the clock. I think the Dane will finish within the top-5 tomorrow, he has also done well in the lead-outs.

Bissegger is the man to beat Ganna. He is very good on the shorter TT’s and had impressive results last year. He will finish in the top-3.

Plapp is another very good contender for a top-3 tomorrow. He won the Aus Nats in 2021 against the clock and the road race in 2022. It is difficult to know his shape but my hunch tells me he is doing well.

Dumoulin is back. A very short and flat TT is not the best route for him, but he should challenge for the top-5.

Who will win?

I will take 3/3 for Ganna.