UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 3 [LAST 20 KM]

February 26, 2019

UAE Tour 2019 – Stage 3 – Al Ain – Jebel Hafeet : 179 km

After running three separate races in recent years, the UAE will host its first national stage race this season. The inaugural UAE Tour is the coming together of the previous Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours and features visits to the other five Emirates, including Sharjah – the scene of the country’s other multi-day race.By combining the two events, organiser RCS Sport have been able to expand the event to seven stages and include multiple hilltop finishes that should see the fight for the overall classification spread across the whole week. There are also three opportunities for the sprinters to take a victory. While most of the Classics riders will be back in Europe for the opening weekend in Belgium, the parcours, the weather and the race’s WorldTour status has attracted a wealth of Grand Tour talent and sprinters.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took his first victory as world champion on Tuesday, winning atop Jebel Hafeet on stage 3 of the UAE Tour.

At the top of the 10.8km final climb, the Spaniard, who triumphed here at the Abu Dhabi Tour 12 months ago, won the sprint for the line ahead of race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and David Gaudu (Groupama- FDJ).

Roglic retained his overall lead, with Valverde moving up to second at 14 seconds. Gaudu is now third, at 31 seconds.

There was virtually no action in the race until the closing climb. Jumbo-Visma controlled the entire ascent, with Roglic himself taking charge in the finale. In the end, only Gaudu, Valverde, and Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) were able to stay with him.

“It’s my first victory of the year, and I was really keen to take it. It was hard, but I felt good,” Valverde said in a post-race interview. “I did a good job of keeping sheltered because there was a lot of wind out there and I managed to get the victory.

“It was difficult to follow Roglic. He went very early. I knew I had to bide my time and go at the same point I went last year, and that’s what I did. It was very important to know the climb and have that reference from last year.”

The Dutch team pushed the tempo all the way up, with rider after rider dropping off the back. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) were amongst the biggest losers. Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin and Wilco Kelderman were unable to follow the closing attack, but still maintained their top ten GC positions.

How it unfolded

The stage was a simple one, on paper. 165km through the desert, and then the climb up the Jebel Hafeet. A break group of four got away early on. The group had a familiar look as three of the four were repeats from stage 2. Igor Baev and Stepan Kuriyanov, both Gazprom, were joined by Charles Planet of Novo Nordisk, along with his teammate and break group ‘newcomer’ Fabio Calabria.

The group was caught surprisingly early. After a gap of no more than four minutes, the peloton gathered them back in with 80km to go.

An intermediate sprint near the base of the climb saw the first real action. The tempo picked up enough to drop the first batch of riders, and almost immediately the climbing started, on a wide, well-paved road. Astana, Movistar, CCC were all at the front, and riders were steadily shedding off the back.

CCC’s Paddy Bevin was the first to pull away from the field, followed by UAE Team Emirates’ Diego Ulissi. They built up a gap, second by second. Robert Power (Sunweb) was the next to jump from the field, bridging the 12-second gap.

Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) was the first of the big names to be dropped. The pace stayed high and with just over six kilometres to go, the three leaders were caught. Laurens De Plus led race leader Primoz Roglic up the climb.

Soon Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) had to let the group go, and young Remo Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) then joined him.

With 4.2km to go, De Plus peeled away and Roglic took off. Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) went with him. They opened up a small gap, with Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) joining them.

Alejandro Valverde and Davide Formolo gave chase, with the world champion driving away. He soon caught Martin, who had dropped, while Buchmann and Gaudu followed Roglic.

Wilco Kelderman and Ilnur Zakarin were the next to move up, with Dumoulin unable to make the jump. Kelderman fell back as Zakarin caught Formolo.

With 1km to go, Valverde dropped a tiring Martin and joined the three leaders. He immediately took Roglic’s rear wheel. Buchmann was the first to try to go, with 600 metres to go, and Valverde went with him, cancelling the attack. Valverde opened the sprint and beat out Roglic for the win.

Results :
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 4:44:50
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:12
6 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:33
7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
8 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:35
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
10 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team
11 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
12 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
13 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:44
14 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:53
15 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:56
16 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
17 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
18 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:04
19 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
20 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
21 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
22 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:01:09
23 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 0:01:17
24 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
25 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
26 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
27 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott
28 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky 0:01:33
29 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data 0:01:40
30 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
31 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
32 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
33 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:12
34 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:18
35 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
36 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:21
37 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team
38 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team 0:02:23
39 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:48
40 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:02:49
41 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
42 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
43 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
44 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
45 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:13
46 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:36
47 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
48 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team 0:03:45
49 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:04:16
50 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:05:10
51 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team
52 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
53 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
54 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
55 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:04
56 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:07:01
57 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:07:53
58 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
59 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:55
60 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
61 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
62 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
63 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First
64 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
65 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
66 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
67 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
68 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
69 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
70 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
71 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
72 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:08:46
73 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:10:08
74 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
75 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First
76 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
77 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
78 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:11:10
79 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
80 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk 0:11:27
81 Declan Irvine (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk
82 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
83 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
84 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
85 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
86 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:12:49
87 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
88 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
89 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:14:00
90 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:14:31
91 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:15:40
92 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:17:02
93 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
94 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
95 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
96 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
97 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
98 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
99 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
100 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
101 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
102 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
103 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
104 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
105 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
106 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
107 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
108 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
109 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
110 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
111 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
112 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
113 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
114 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
115 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
116 Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
117 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
118 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
119 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
120 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal
121 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
122 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
123 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
124 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
125 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First
126 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
127 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
128 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
129 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
130 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
131 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
132 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
133 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
134 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:19:58
135 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
136 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:20:20
137 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
138 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
139 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data 0:22:15

General Classification after Stage 3 :
1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 9:38:05
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:14
3 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:31
4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:39
5 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:47
6 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:54
7 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:57
8 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team 0:01:05
9 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:07
10 Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:08
11 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:01:16
12 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:17
13 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:23
14 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:24
15 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
16 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team 0:01:25
17 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:28
18 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:01:29
19 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:32
20 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:35
21 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:01:37
22 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:39
23 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:46
24 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
25 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 0:01:49
26 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky 0:01:53
27 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:55
28 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:04
29 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:40
30 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
31 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:50
32 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:53
33 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
34 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team
35 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:02
36 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:07
37 Davide Villella (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:11
38 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Dimension Data 0:03:25
39 Artem Nych (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:03:52
40 Ildar Arslanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
41 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:01
42 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:04
43 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data 0:04:11
44 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:04:27
45 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:42
46 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:49
47 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:54
48 Callum Scotson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:03
49 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:05:30
50 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:05:40
51 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
52 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team 0:05:46
53 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:06:00
54 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
55 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:06:58
56 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:08:01
57 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:08:06
58 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team 0:08:19
59 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
60 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:08:25
61 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
62 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:08:27
63 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:30
64 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
65 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:44
66 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
67 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:08:54
68 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:09:01
69 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:09:21
70 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk 0:09:47
71 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:10:07
72 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:41
73 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:10:43
74 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:11:42
75 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 0:11:48
76 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:11:51
77 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
78 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:12:02
79 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin 0:12:18
80 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First 0:12:20
81 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:12:22
82 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:12:31
83 Declan Irvine (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:13:19
84 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
85 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:13:24
86 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:00
87 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:15:06
88 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:15:18
89 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:15:52
90 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:16:37
91 Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:17:08
92 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:17:15
93 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky 0:17:22
94 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:17:28
95 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:17:32
96 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:34
97 Sacha Modolo (Ita) EF Education First
98 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First
99 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
100 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education First
101 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:17:40
102 Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:17:41
103 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:17:49
104 Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:51
105 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
106 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
107 Will Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
108 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:17:53
109 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
110 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:17:57
111 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:18:02
112 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
113 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:18:05
114 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
115 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo
116 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:18:08
117 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:18:20
118 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:18:23
119 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:18:25
120 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:27
121 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:18:37
122 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:40
123 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:18:55
124 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:18:58
125 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:19:08
126 Sam Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:19:13
127 Oliviero Troia (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:18
128 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:19:36
129 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Gazprom–Rusvelo 0:19:52
130 Paul Martens (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:20:04
131 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:20:12
132 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:20:16
133 Mehdi Benhamouda (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:20:26
134 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:20:49
135 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:21:16
136 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:22:25
137 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data 0:22:50
138 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:23:09
139 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:32:12