Pogačar & Yates break climbing record on Jebel Hafeet summit | Video | Sticky Bottle

Tadej Pogačar celebrates stage victory, in the race leader's jersey, at the summit of Jebel Hafeet just ahead of Adam Yates after the duo had ridden away from the rest of the field on the final climb (Photo: Gian Mattia D'Alberto)

Tadej Pogačar has claimed victory on stage 3 of UAE Tour and extended his overall lead and riding away from the rest of the field with Adam Yates on the summit finish at Jebel Hafeet.

The duo broke the climbing record on the summit finish, clocking a time of 25:57 on the 10.9km climb which has an average gradient of 6.9 per cent. Their time was 18 seconds faster than the previous record, set last year by Yates when he finished solo to win, some 1:03 ahead of Pogačar.

The new record is now 1:05 faster than that set by Esteban Chaves in 2015 and has been lowered gradually each year since then.

Today Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) made most of the running but simply couldn't drop Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) despite trying to do so several times on the climb.

And on the technical downhill section at the finish Pogačar was far too streetwise for Yates, surprising him though the finish line was nearing and easily beating him to win; putting in a huge kick in the final 400m for an average speed of 54.4km per hour and a maximum speed of 57.2km.

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Sergio Higuita (EF Education-Nippo) placed 3rd today, finishing 48 seconds down and at the head of the chasing group that formed behind the leading pair.

Ineos Grenadiers lit it up on the front about 5km from the finish, with some serious power from Daniel Martínez ripping the 25-man lead group apart until only Pogačar, Yates and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) were left out front, though Kuss was later dropped.

Adam Yates leads the group on the climb just before one of his accelerations got rid of everyone expected Pogacar and Kuss. However, Kuss could only hang in with them for a short time before letting them go (Photo: Fabio Ferrari)

João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) put in a spirited defence on the front of the chase group behind the leaders, keeping the gap down but unable to close it, before finishing in the first chasing group.

The result leaves Pogačar in a commanding position at the head of the general standings, now leading overall by 43 seconds from Yates by 43 seconds, as the British rider shed that time in yesterday's TT.

Almeida is now 3rd overall at 1:03 and Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma) is 4th at 1:43 with Neilson Powless (EF Education-Nippo) in 5th at 1:45.

Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was 103rd today in a group 16:05 down and he should get a shot at a stage win tomorrow when the 204km stage to Al Marjan Island was expected to end in a bunch sprint if the crosswinds don't split the field as they did on the opening stage on Sunday.