Tadej Pogacar retained the UAE Tour title as he once again beat Adam Yates after an exciting head-to-head duel up the final climb of the race.
In a finish similar to last year, Yates had tried to break his opponent before Pogacar launched the decisive move near the top of Jebel Hafeet.
The Slovenian took the stage by one second to secure the overall race by 22 seconds from Briton Yates.
“At one moment I was really suffering,” said 23-year-old Pogacar.
“But luckily Adam also slowed down a bit,” added the two-time Tour de France champion.
“I was in the lead in front of him [in the general classification], so I didn’t need to attack and make seconds – I was just trying to follow.
“His attacks are one of the best attacks in the world.”
UAE Tour stage 7 result:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) 3hrs 20mins 24secs
2. Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +1sec
3. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +5secs
4. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +15secs
5. Lucas Plapp (Aus/INEOS Grenadiers +16secs
6. Carlos Verona (Spa/Movistar Team)
7. Rafal Majka (Pol/UAE Team Emirates)
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/BORA Hansgrohe)
9. Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra/AG2R Citroen)
10. Chris Harper (Aus/Jumbo Visma)
General classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE-Team Emirates) 25hrs 38mins 16secs
2. Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +22secs
3. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +48secs
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/BORA Hansgrohe) +54secs
5. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +55secs
6. Carlos Verona (Spa/Movistar Team) +1min 17secs
7. Rafal Majka (Pol/UAE Team Emirates +1min 24secs
8. Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra/AG2R Citroen) +1min 46secs
9. Romain Bardet (Fra/DSM) same time
10. David De La Cruz (Spa/Astana Qazaqstan) +1min 58secs