Jan Christen's bold attack secures stage and snatches overall victory at AlUla Tour

Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) won the final stage of the AlUla Tour at the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid with a late solo attack, which was enough to also seal the general classification. 

The Swiss rider started the stage 14th in the general classification at 0:33 behind pre-stage race leader Yannis Voisard (Tudor). Christen was in contention on the steep slopes of the ascent of Harrat Uwayrid and attacked clear from a select group shortly over the summit, and powered his way to victory on a fast run-in to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid.

Christen finished solo, 0:11 ahead of Byron Munton (Modern Adventure), whilst the Swiss rider’s teammate, Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), won the sprint for third from a reduced group at 0:32 to snatch the bonus seconds away from any other contender to Christen.

The stage and overall success mark the sixth and seventh victories of Christen’s career, and the first general classification triumph. Sergio Higuita (XDS-Astana) finished second overall at 0:15, whilst Arrieta rounded out the podium at 0:21.

It's UAE's second GC victory of the season, following Jay Vine at the Santos Tour Down Under.

A seven-man group formed the day’s breakaway for the final stage of the race, featuring Dries De Bondt (Jayco Alula), Lars Vanden Heede (Soudal Quick-Step), Milan Fretin (Cofidis), Rayan Boulahoite (TotalEnergies), Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Federico Iacomoni (UKYO), and Juan Pedro Lozano (Terengganu).

On the steep slopes of Harrat Uwayrid, the breakaway’s advantage of over 2:00 quickly dwindled, and the group split apart with Iacomoni and Lozano pulling clear. Behind in the peloton, the group was also quickly shrinking in size, and inside 10km to the finish, the race leader, Voisard, was distanced from the bunch.

Towards the summit of the climb, Christen launched a big attack, which reeled in the front duo, and the Swiss rider was shortly countered by Sergio Higuita (XDS-Astana). Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step) would win the sprint at the climb's summit, having followed Higuita.

Five riders eventually formed the front group for the fast run-in to the finish before Christen decided to attack solo from the front group with 6km remaining, and the Swiss rider opened a significant advantage. Munton countered and was able to get clear of the rest, but was nearly 0:10 behind Christen, who was provisionally looking good to take the general classification with the chasers at around 0:30.

In the end, Christen had done enough to secure the overall victory as well as the stage win.