A challenging conclusion of the UAE Tour awaited the riders. The final stage included the 10-kilometre climb up Jebel Hafeet with an average gradient of around seven percent. Five riders - including Hessmann - broke away from the pack shortly after the race began, gaining a six-minute lead.

The peloton moved swiftly in the direction of the foot of the Jebel Hafeet while the leaders began the ascent with a 2.5-minutes advantage. As the leader of this lead group, Hessmann rode away from three of his fellow escapees while a group of favourites closed in behind him. "Michel wanted to be in the early breakaway”, sports director Maarten Wynants said. "He delivered a brilliant performance. When the depleted peloton caught him, he did a good job for Sepp and Tom.”

For Hessmann, this UAE Tour was very instructive. “After a knee injury, I did not know how I would feel at the start of this week. But, the knee felt immediately right and my shape was also better than expected. Every day, it went better and better.”

For a long time, Kuss stayed close to Yates and general classification leader Evenepoel. With 4.5 kilometres to go, he had to give in. Together with Bouchard, the American battled to catch up but ultimately had to settle for fourth place. In the final standings, Kuss moved up from seventeenth to fifth place. According to Kuss, the team was very motivated for the last stage. “Michel was riding amazing up front, while Tom and I were guided perfecty to the bottom of the climb by the team. My goal was to follow the best guys as long as possible. It was a confidence boost to be there with riders like Yates and Evenepoel for a while. I still have some work to do to be in my best shape, but I had already a nice feeling.”

Wynants reflected on the previous week with satisfaction, even though he had hoped for a better result. "It's a shame we don’t go home with a stage win. Olav was close a few times. Tom didn't have a good day due to the heat, but we were strong again.”