Bauhaus beats Kittel in dramatic photo finish on final Sprint Stage

Elia Viviani keeps Red Jersey. GC is set to evolve with a time trial, followed by a deciding summit finish

Stage 3 was the final flat stage of 133 km around the Emirate of Abu Dhabi andthe last chance for the sprinters.

Five riders established the breakaway of the day; Marco Maronese (Bardiani CSF), Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Pierre Rolland (EF Education First-Drapac) and Sam Brand (Team Novo Nordisk).

Behind the peloton wasn't letting the break get too far away and wit 53 kms to go the five man break was reeled back in, allowing the peloton to prepare for a bunch sprint.

Strong winds resulted in echelons which came into play with 44kms to go and the peloton was split. The pace was so high that Alexander Kristoff crashed on a roundabout. Kittel clawed his way back through the cars to the UAE Team Emirates car to allow the team mechanic check his bike.

The peloton slowed after the group behind bridged across and the sprinters’ teams moved to the front with Movistar at the head of the peloton with 3 kms to go.

Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) led the bunch around the final corner and Caleb Ewan was the first of the sprinters to fire, but at least 5 riders closed in resulting in a photo finish bewteen Kittel and Bauhaus.

The race jury decided on Bauhaus had just edged out Kittel, who took his and his team’s first win of the year.

Speaking of the win, Bauhaus said: "We have a really good team here for the sprint and I've been working well at home. My goal here was to go for a podium or take a win, so it's really nice to be able to achieve that against such a super strong field. It's always hard to get the first win of the season and get the ball rolling, especially after such an unlucky day here yesterday. I hope we can continue like this into tomorrow and Sunday where we have a lot of cards to play."

Tomorrow's fourth stage is a flat 12.6 kms time trial before the Queen Stage on Sunday that finishes atop Jabel Hafeet. 

Overall GC favoriye Alejandro Valverde is best placed, 8th overall, going into the last two stages.

VIDEO: 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour Stage 3 Final Kilometres

2018 Abu Dhabi Tour Stage 3 Top 10

1 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 3:02:55 
2 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin   
3 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe   
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors   
5 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott   
6 AndrŽ Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal   
7 Rudy Barbier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale   
8 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates   
9 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo   
10 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF

2018 Abu Dhabi Tour GC after Stage 3

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 11:06:36 
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:03 
3 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb   
4 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:05 
5 Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:07 
6 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin   
7 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:09 
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:10 
9 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo   
10 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF