Dubai Tour: Lobato wins on Hatta Dam

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Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) claimed victory on stage 3 of the Dubai Tour to Hatta Dam after a stinging attack. Lobato has a good record on this climb, finishing third here in 2015 behind John Degenkolb and his teammate Alejandro Valverde.

Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafrado) was the only rider to get near the Spaniard to finish second with Silvan Dillier taking third. Nizzolo’s performance was enough to put him into the leader’s jersey just ahead of Lobato.

It was BMC that took control of the bunch inside the final kilometre, with Samuel Sanchez pacing Gilbert up the climb. Sanchez peeled off as they went around the final corner, leaving Gilbert to deliver but the Belgian faded quickly. Lobato was quick to take advantage and sailed up the right-hand side of the road, gaining a substantial advantage early on. Nizzolo stuck to his wheel for a few metres but had to relent and let him go.

Behind him, there was a battle for the bonus seconds with Dillier leading home a group including Gilbert and Fabian Cancellara that finished four seconds back. Marcel Kittel, who had given up the lead the day before, put in a monumental effort to gain places, even on the climb’s toughest gradients. He held onto the coattails of Cancellara to keep himself in contention for the overall classification at six seconds down in the GC.

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How it happened

Stage 3 of the Dubai Tour was set to be a crucial one for the overall fight, and the sprinters would have to ensure a strong finish on the Hatta Dam to keep themselves in contention. Viviani began the day as the new race leader after moving past Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) in the general classification following his victory on stage 2.

One man that wouldn’t be in action was Michael Rogers (Tinkoff) who failed to make the start on medical advice. The Dubai Tour was the first race for Rogers since he was discovered to have a heart defect. Rogers was the only DNS and the remainder of the peloton took to the start for the 172-kilometre stage. However, Bernhard Eisel (Dimension Data) would join him as a retiree when he climbed off in the feed zone.

As has become an unspoken tradition at the Dubai Tour, Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai) booked his place in the breakaway. Chun Kai Feng (Lampre-Merida), Andy Tennant (WIGGINS), Hayden McCormick (One Pro Cycling) and David Lozano Riba (Novo Nordisk) would keep him company in his endeavours.

With Viviani to look after Team Sky assumed the front of the peloton, where they would stay until the closing kilometres of the stage. The British outfit kept the escapees at close quarters allowing them a maximum advantage of 2:15. Saving themselves for the tough finish, the other teams were happy to let Sky take the pain on the front.

It wasn’t until the road started to climb towards Hatta Dam at just under 15 kilometres remaining that the real action began. As the escapees began dropping back into the peloton the attacks came. First off was Dimitry Gruzdev (Astana), sailing past the flagging escape group, igniting a furious battle to get off the front.

It appeared that Gruzdev’s move was nothing more than a softening up of the peloton as Lieuwe Westra then took leave of the front group, followed by another attack from Laurens de Vreese inside the final 10 kilometres. De Vreese’s move brought Ben Swift to the front, a serious threat to the victory for Astana. The pair took turns to try and shake Swift, who was forced to react to each upping of the pace.

As this was playing out front, Mark Cavendish’s continued to suffer, with late puncture resulting in him losing a hatful of time. There appeared to be an attempt to take a wheel from a teammate but the Manxman was eventually forced to wait for the team car to arrive by which time his hopes of the overall had all but ended.

The Westra, Gruzdev and Swift move would eventually be mopped up inside the final five kilometres by a peloton led by Movistar and Trek-Segafredo. Impressively, as many of the other sprinters had lost touch, Kittel still found himself inside the ever-reducing bunch.

Tony Martin led the group under the flame rouge, as the road towards the Hatta Dam began to really ramp up. He peeled off soon after to allow BMC take control in the form of Samuel Sanchez. He had Gilbert in his wheel but behind him was Cancellara, who had already shown this season that he was in strong form.

Gilbert was unable to utilise the punch that has won him several major races and he was resigned to watching Lobato power past him towards the line. Nizzolo would be the closest to him with Dillier taking third.

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