CYCLING – Team Bahrain Victorious rider Antonio Tiberi secured a superb overall runner-up finish yesterday at the UAE Tour, narrowly missing out on the winner’s red jersey after a week that saw the young Italian write his name into the race’s history books.
The 22-year-old had a sensational solo victory atop Jebel Mobrah – a climb introduced for the first time in this year’s edition of the UCI World Tour event.
In doing so, Tiberi became the first rider ever to win on the summit of the new ascent.
Attacking with conviction, he powered clear of his rivals to claim the stage win and move into the red jersey.
Holding a 21-second advantage heading into stage six, Tiberi faced a decisive showdown on the slopes of Jebel Hafeet.
Despite responding bravely to multiple accelerations from Isaac Del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the Italian was ultimately distanced in the final kilometres, relinquishing the race lead after a determined defence of the jersey.
Nevertheless, Tiberi’s performance across the seven-day race confirmed his exceptional form, following on from a strong showing at the Volta Valenciana earlier this month.
His dominant ride on Jebel Mobrah secured Bahrain Victorious’s first stage win at the UAE Tour and the team’s first victory of the 2026 season.
The second-place finish overall also represents the team’s highest-ever general classification result at the race.
With his podium, Bahrain Victorious have now placed on the overall top three in four of the last five editions of the UAE Tour, underlining its continued strength in the region.
Following yesterday’s concluding stage, Tiberi said: “With second place overall, I can say that I’m really happy with what the team and I achieved. I think we can be very pleased with this week.”
“Yes, it was a really nice victory on stage three – the best win of my career so far. It was especially special as it was also a new climb at the UAE Tour. There were some really hard moments, but I enjoyed every metre. It’s amazing to look back on it now.”
“I would definitely like to come back. This is the third time I’ve ridden the UAE Tour, and I really like this race. The location is also quite different from the usual races, and I enjoy racing here.”
Tiberi placed 28th in yesterday’s leg while countryman and teammate Daniel Skerl was Bahrain Victorious’s leading man on the stage rankings in 10th.
Along with his overall runner-up placing on the GC, Tiberi was also second on the best young rider classification and third on the points rankings.
Bahrain Victorious were 10th amongst the 21 contenders in the teams’ rankings.
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