Tadej Pogacar of local team UAE Team Emirates retained his overall lead in the UAE Tour after Thursday's likely decisive fifth stage which finished on the mountain summit of Jebel Jais.

While Jonas Vingegaard of team Jumbo Visma took the stage win and the biggest victory of his young career, Pogacar finished second to extend his overall lead to 45 seconds over Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers).

Sprint victory

Towards the end of the 21km final climb, Vingegaard rode past the last survivor from the breakaway Alexey Lutsenko from team Astana, while Pogacar sprinted from the main peloton to finish just behind in second, alongside Yates in third.

For Sam Bennett, who ended his chase for that 50th win of his professional career with a superb bunch sprint victory on stage four, there are now two more likely bunch sprint finishes to aim for, on Friday's flat stage into finish into Palm Jumeirah and then Saturday's final stage at Abu Dhabi Breakwater.