Rui Costa takes Abu Dhabi Tour overall lead on stage three
UAE Team Emirates' Rui Costa surged away from his rivals in the final kilometre to summit Jebel Hafeet on stage three and take control of the Abu Dhabi Tour overall lead.
2013 Road World Champion, Costa, impressively held off Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin to take a four second lead into the final stage and all but win his team's home race. Team Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin was only ten seconds behind in third while Trek Segafredo's Bauke Mollema and Quick-Step Floors' Julian Alaphilippe rounded out the top five, finishing fourth and fifth respectively, 28 and 46 seconds down.
Movistar's Nairo Quintana and Trek Segafredo's Alberto Contador were clearly saving their efforts for another race as they finished tenth and 13th respectively.
The Abu Dhabi Tour isn't well-known for its climbs - for good reason, it doesn't have very many - but stage three took a brief break from the sprinter friendly stages to deliver an ascent of Jebel Hafeet.
As the battle for the red jersey would be held right at the tail end of the stage, the early goings were all about the break and those intermediate sprints, with Bardiani's Simone Andreetta, Gazprom-RusVelo's Pavel Brutt, Nippo - Vini Fantini's Alan Marangoli and Stephen Clancy of Team Novo Nordisk going clear early on.
High winds would cause serious problems for the peloton throughout the day. Kazushige Kuboki and Alexey Vermeulen were crash victims on the wind swept open desert roads and soon after a temporary neutralisation period was called for.
The two intermediate sprints were squeezed into the final 25 kilometres of the race, meaning by the time Andreetta had won the first the peloton were breathing down the necks of the breakaway and the field all back together before the second.
Dimension Data's Mark Cavendish was never going to retain his red jersey on this stage, and so battled with Quick-Step Floors' Marcel Kittel for crucial points in the race for the green jersey at the second intermediate sprint. On this occasion, the German came out on top, but it will come down to the final sprint at the end of stage four tomorrow to decide who leaves Abu Dhabi with the green jersey.
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On to the slopes of Jebel Hafeet and the aforementioned Cavendish was one of the first riders to drop off the back, along with many of his sprinting rivals.
With six kilometres to go a very select group of climbers was left at the front of the field, including Contador, Costa, Dumoulin, Quintana and Zakarin, the Trek Segafredo and Movistar riders seemingly playing the waiting game.
Costa and Zakarin weren't going to wait around though and pulled clear with one kilometre to go, but it was Costa who sprinted clear of his Russian counterpart for the stage win and the red jersey.
Barring a catastrophe during stage four - the traditional laps of Yas Marina F1 circuit - Costa should hold onto the red jersey and take his first stage race win since the 2014 Tour de Suisse.
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| Credit: cyclingnews.com |
Movistar's Nairo Quintana and Trek Segafredo's Alberto Contador were clearly saving their efforts for another race as they finished tenth and 13th respectively.
The Abu Dhabi Tour isn't well-known for its climbs - for good reason, it doesn't have very many - but stage three took a brief break from the sprinter friendly stages to deliver an ascent of Jebel Hafeet.
As the battle for the red jersey would be held right at the tail end of the stage, the early goings were all about the break and those intermediate sprints, with Bardiani's Simone Andreetta, Gazprom-RusVelo's Pavel Brutt, Nippo - Vini Fantini's Alan Marangoli and Stephen Clancy of Team Novo Nordisk going clear early on.
High winds would cause serious problems for the peloton throughout the day. Kazushige Kuboki and Alexey Vermeulen were crash victims on the wind swept open desert roads and soon after a temporary neutralisation period was called for.
The two intermediate sprints were squeezed into the final 25 kilometres of the race, meaning by the time Andreetta had won the first the peloton were breathing down the necks of the breakaway and the field all back together before the second.
Dimension Data's Mark Cavendish was never going to retain his red jersey on this stage, and so battled with Quick-Step Floors' Marcel Kittel for crucial points in the race for the green jersey at the second intermediate sprint. On this occasion, the German came out on top, but it will come down to the final sprint at the end of stage four tomorrow to decide who leaves Abu Dhabi with the green jersey.
.
On to the slopes of Jebel Hafeet and the aforementioned Cavendish was one of the first riders to drop off the back, along with many of his sprinting rivals.
With six kilometres to go a very select group of climbers was left at the front of the field, including Contador, Costa, Dumoulin, Quintana and Zakarin, the Trek Segafredo and Movistar riders seemingly playing the waiting game.
Costa and Zakarin weren't going to wait around though and pulled clear with one kilometre to go, but it was Costa who sprinted clear of his Russian counterpart for the stage win and the red jersey.
Barring a catastrophe during stage four - the traditional laps of Yas Marina F1 circuit - Costa should hold onto the red jersey and take his first stage race win since the 2014 Tour de Suisse.
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