Vingegaard, Del Toro, Evenepoel set for blockbuster pre-Tour de France brawl next month on brutal new climb.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Updated January 22, 2026 05:58AM
The UAE Tour presented the big dogs of the Tour de France with a somewhat unexpected, very ugly test of early-season form when it launched its 2026 route.
Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoeland Isaac del Toro learned this week they’ll scale the UAE’s own Angliru when they face off at the Emirati race next month.
Featuring for the first time in 2026, the Jebel Mobrah isn’t one of the smooth, shallow summits so typical to the UAE.
It’s not been manufacturedeither.
Judging by the stats, it’s a true leg-snapper that would hold its own in the Alps or Pyrénées.
The sandy, stoney peak sprawls across 17km and averages a lung-busting 12 percent gradient through the final 6km. The climb pretty much points skyward in the final kilometer with repeated 17 percent ramps.
There’s no harder climb on the WorldTour calendar ahead of the Giro d’Italia.
That’s why February 18 should be circled in the diaries of cycling fans, sport directors, and team trainers alike.
The Jebel Mobrah summit finish on stage 3 of the UAE Tour will show the riders, and the rest of the cycling world, who’s come out of winter hot, and who’s stuck in warm-up.
Vingegaard, Del Toro, Evenepoel headline first big GC showdown of 2026
Long seen as a “Super Bowl of the Sprinters,” the UAE Tour has also emerged as one of the key GC stops of the 2026 season.
Reigning UAE Tour and Tour de France champion Pogačar has chosen to forgo any spring stage-racing in favor of sterrato and cobblestonesbut the three riders most likely to usurp him in July have committed to race in the Middle East.
Two-time yellow jersey Vingegaard, lead “Bull” Evenepoel, and Pogačar’s apprentice Del Toro are joined by only Juan Ayuso and Florian Lipowitz in the tier below Pogačar in the pre-Tour power rankings.
The climb to Jebel Mobrah on stage 3 of the race will be crucial in deciding which of those three succeeds Pogačar as “King of the UAE.”
Gains and losses on the stage 2 time trial and the stage 6 climb to Jebel Hafeet will also contribute to who wins the red leader’s jersey.
And while winning the UAE Tour is huge in its own right, whoever dominates on the Jebel Mobrah next month will scoop some extra chest-beating bragging rights.
