Rui Costa wins queen stage at Abu Dhabi Tour
Rui Costa of UAE Team Emirates has won the queen stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour. The Portuguese rider beat Ilnur Zakarin of Katusha-Alpecin in a sprint of two
The third of four stages in the Middle Eastern race was also the most influential in the battle for the general classification. The 186km course was mostly flat but included a tough climb up the Jebel Hafeet mountain in its finale.
Simone Andreetta (Bardiani CSF), Pavel Brutt (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Stephen Clancy (Team Novo Nordisk) and Alan Marangoni (Nippo-Vini Fantini) formed an escape group early on and created a gap of about five minutes with the peloton.
The chase was momentarily slowed down as the wind pushed the desert sand onto the course and forced the peloton to take things easy for a short while. The four leaders were eventually reeled in at 15 kilometers from the finish, giving the peloton a few more kilometers to prepare for the final climb.
Nairo Quintana of Movistar was the first of the General Classification contenders to test the waters on the climb, but the Colombian's effort was quickly neutralized by his rivals.
Rui Costa then attacked and was later joined by Zakarin. Many movements took place behind them, most notably the attack by Sunweb's Tom Dumoulin. The Dutchman went into full time trial mode in an attempt to catch the leaders and almost did so with about one kilometer to go but failed to bridge the final gap.
In the sprint, Rui Costa had the stronger legs by far and easily beat his Russian companion to secure the victory and take the lead in the overall classification. Dumoulin finished third ahead of compatriot Bauke Mollema of Trek-Segafredo. Julian Alaphilippe of Quick-Step Floors won the sprint for fifth place.
With only a flat stage left to go on Sunday, Rui Costa will only need to stay in the peloton to secure the overall victory.
2017 Abu Dhabi Stage 3 Top 20 Results
1 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 4:34:08
2 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:10
4 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:28
5 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:46
6 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
7 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
8 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
9 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:58
11 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:01
14 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:01:05
15 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
16 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
18 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal
19 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Orica-Scott
20 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team
2017 Abu Dhabi Stage 3 Video Highlights
How it Happened
13:16 GMT: 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour Stage 3 Top 10 Results
13:14 GMT: Rui Costa wins ahead of Zakarin.
13: 13 GMT Looks like Costa and Zakarin! 700m to go!
13:09 GMT: Mollema is chasing Costa and Zakarin
13:06 GMT: Costa and Zakarin still lead. with 37 seconds. Under 3 kms to go. Mollema has attacked.
13:04 GMT: Costa and Zakarin still lead. with 37 seconds. Under 3 kms to go.
13:00 GMT: Quintana and Contador look like the favorites to win the stage.
12:59 GMT : Quintana and Contador attack! Nibali follows. 6 km to go!
12:54 GMT: Allaphilippe is looking fresh. Contador, Aru, Nibali and Quintana all there. 6.7 km to go!
12: 52 GMT : 8km to go, 4km get steep. Peloton shredded!
12:50 GMT: Quintana attacks! Contador follows!
12: 47 GMT: 10 km to go. Aru, Quintana, Nibali all at the front. Where's Contador as we hit Jebel Hafeet!
12: 32 GMT: Breakaway has 1m 24s with 22km to go. Mountain Finish up Jebel Hafeet!
12:28 GMT: Intermediate Sprint for 4 breakaway companions
12:27 GMT: LIVE video feed above.
LIVE STREAMING video expected above at 7:30 EST, 12:30 GMT, 13:30 CET.
The third stage comprises both urban surroundings and mountains. The first part, inside Al Ain city, is all on wide roads with roundabouts and speed humps and is followed by a second part in the desert along wide and predominantly straight roads. At 15km to go, the route starts to rise slightly towards the final ascent, culminating in an uphill finish at an altitude of 1025m, following an 11km climb with slopes with an 11% gradient.
The final climb is on wide-ranging bends on a three-lane roadway. The gradient is mostly around 8-9% with a peak of 11% at 3km to go. There are short descents in the last kilometres before the final ramp with a straight finish on asphalt.
