Alejandro Valverde takes the stage victory; Irish cyclist Dan Martin not far behind having ridden a very strong final climb. He’s now in contention overall.
Dan Martin was one of the main aggressors on the first climb of UAE Tour and is now in contention overall.
The UAE Team Emirates rider was among a four-man group that pulled clear on the Jebel Hafeet climb at the end of the stage.
Race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) was the man who did most of the damage; taking it up with about 4km remaining.
Roglic showed no fear in flexing his muscle when his last team mate, Laurens De Plus, dropped off the front.
Roglic’s acceleration when left to fend for himself after strong team support saw two others go with him; Martin and young French hope David Gaudu, the 22-year-old riding for Groupama-FDJ.
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Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) would soon join them to make it a leading quarter as what was left of the peloton – about 20 riders – disintegrated.
Just behind the four leaders, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) were proving best of the rest.
And when Roglic stamped hard on the pedals on the steepest section of the climb with about 3km remaining, the four up front split.
Dan Martin in the bunch before the proverbial hit the fan; the Irish stripes on his sleeves signifying he’s the former Irish champion.
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However, while a regrouping of sorts occurred, Dan Martin never got back to Roglic and the two others.
And when Valverde saw Martin in trouble just ahead of him, he attacked from behind and caught the Irishman.
He then sat in Martin’s wheel before jumping across to the trio still ahead. At the finish Buchmann lost some seconds, meaning the sprint for victory was between Valverde, Roglic and Gaudu.
And that’s how they finished; the world champion beating the race leader and the young rising French star.
Dan Martin had to be content with 5th on the day; a very good ride that saw him lose just 14 seconds.
Formolo was next; the Italian in 6th place some 21 seconds down on Dan Martin and 33 seconds off the stage winner.
The result means Roglic remains top of the general classification. He now leads Valverde by 14 seconds.
Then comes Gaudu at 31 seconds followed by Buchmann – 4th overall at 39 seconds – and Wilco Kelderman of Team Sunweb; in 5th at 47 seconds.
Dan Martin is next, in 6th place and some 54 seconds behind the race leader. The Irish cyclist is one place and three seconds ahead of Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb in the general standings.
Dumoulin was one of a host of big names to lose time today. Others in that boat included Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo).
Today Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) finished in a large group 17:02 down. Tomorrow’s stage 4 is a lengthy 205km featuring an uphill finish at Hatta Dam.
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