Defending UAE Tour champion Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) has only raced Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 11 times in his young career, however, he has already described it as "something I will remember for the rest of my life."
Van Eetvelt has relished the challenge of competing against the world champion in the UAE despite it looking probable that he won't retain his crown as he trails Pogačar by 38 seconds. He did manage to beat the current race leader in the opening uphill sprint final after Pogačar made a small mistake, but he lost time both in the stage 2 time trial and at the summit finish to Jebel Jais.
While the Belgian doesn't feel he is reducing the deficit to reach the Slovenian's level, perhaps conceding what might happen on tomorrow's final stage to Jebel Hafeet, he's certainly enjoyed his time in Pogačar's slipstream this week.
"I think racing against him, the gap is a bit too big. Racing against other WorldTour guys is certainly nice and is better for development," said Van Eetvelt to Cyclingnews before stage 5.
"Because racing against him you get dropped anyway and there's usually no point in following him. But it is really nice, he's the best rider at the moment and maybe the best rider ever you know, going against him is something I will remember for the rest of my life."
Van Eetvelt was then the closest rider on GC to follow Pogačar's impulsive attack with teammate Domen Novak just 11 kilometres into stage 5 and ended up staying with him in the breakaway group for 110km.
"I was joking with teammates that if we go now, they won't respond and then Tadej went with some other guys and without thinking I went. It was maybe not really smart but it was a fun day," said Van Eetvelt to Cyclingnews at the finish line on Dubai's outskirts.
Both he and Pogačar gained three bonus seconds after jovially battling out the intermediate sprints. However, while Van Eetvelt actually won last year's race thanks to gaining time in a similar way, he doesn't "think they really matter, to be honest, it was just fun.
"Sometimes it is good to just change the pace a bit and test the body," he said.
The Belgian revealed that he has also been battling a mystery illness in the days leading up to the race and first four stages. He was thankful that the echelons formed on stage 4 didn't cause his GC bid to go up in smoke.
"To be honest, I was not feeling too well yesterday," he said, speaking before stage 5. "I had quite some fun in the crosswinds and fuck we were unlucky twice to not be in it, but we were lucky twice to get back to the front and it was a good lesson for the coming days.
"I don't know [how my shape fully is], we'll see. I haven't been feeling too well the last couple of days. I don't know what it is."
Such was the Belgian's poor feeling that he thought his equipment was failing him on the 21.1km ascent to Jebel Jais on stage 3, before he eventually surprised himself with the fourth place he managed in the sprint.
"I was actually thinking my power meter was broken because the power was really not as high as I was expecting it to be, but I was still suffering," he told Cyclingnews. "So in the end, I was really surprised with the result I had because it didn't match my feelings.
"I think the way the race went, it was actually quite perfect to beat Pogačar if you want to beat him. This was the way it should have gone, he started [sprinting] pretty early and I felt bad for Oscar Onley because if he was in his wheel, he might have had the chance – maybe not to beat him – but come pretty close."
With his health and shape still not exactly where he wants them to be, Van Eetvelt will enter the Jebel Hafeet finale on Sunday with an open mind and without feeling pressure to defend the red jersey he won last February.
"Either way, we can be happy with how the result was in the end [on Jebel Jais] and hope to be better on Sunday," Van Eetvelt added.
"I will see how it goes to be honest, I'm not too stressed about it. If I feel better, I feel better, if I don't, I don't. It is what it is, I just hope to be safe the next few days and not lose time in any echelons."
