Race report

Remco Evenepoel rockets into red at the UAE Tour after TT domination

The current Olympic and World ITT champion, Remco Evenepoel, won stage 2 of the 2026 UAE Tour with a blistering performance against the clock, completing the 12.2-kilometre effort in 13:03 with Isaac del Toro finishing 42 seconds down on Evenepoel.

February 17 2026 - 12:35 PM

Cor Vos

Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) continued his fine start to the 2026 season, taking his seventh victory of the young 2026 season after the 'aero bullet' launched supersonic to take the stage and the red jersey at the UAE Tour. Evenepoel completed the 12.2-kilometre effortjust shy of the 13-minute mark with an average speed of over 56km/h.

Evenepoel endured a long stint in the provisional hotseat of the day after the Belgian undertook his effort, before mainstream broadcasting had even begun. There was a very brief stint in the hosteat for the 'Le TGV de Clermont-Ferrand', Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United) but Evenepoel blitzed the Frenchman's time, faster by a whole kilometre per hour.

Shortly after Evenepoel completed his effort, attention turned to Josh Tarling (Ineos) to see if he could better Evenepoel's time. Still, it wasn't to be for Tarling, who finished best of the rest in second place, 6 seconds down on the time set by Evenepoel.

For the remainder of the stage, the wind picked up, with the provisional podium of Evenepoel, Tarling, and Cavagna set in stone. The nearest challenger to stepping onto the podium, Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), was still 13 seconds off Cavagna's set time in third.

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was the last rider to begin his effort on the stage as race leader. He had to battle worsening wind conditions in an attempt to match Evenepoel’s storming time, the rising breeze also explaining why the Belgian had opted for a much earlier start.

It was not to be for Del Toro, who shed 42 seconds to Evenepoel on the stage, with the gap in the GC sitting at 32 seconds after Del Toro did well to limit his losses in the second half of the effort.

Del Toro will look to overturn the deficit to Evenepoel in Wednesday’s stage 3, which finishes on Jebel Mobrah, a new addition to the UAE Tour. The steep slopes could tilt the balance in favour of the young Mexican and set up a general classification showdown.