Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling) won an exhausting scrap for victory on stage 3 of the AlUla Tour, pipping Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) and Sergio Higuita (XDS Astana Team) to the line after a gruelling uphill sprint to Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah.
Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) looked to have the stage win sewn up after launching a crafty early attack and dropping Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) to go solo in the final 1.2 kilometres.
But Eulálio toiled away with another UAE rider, Igor Arrieta, in his wheel just as the final barriers arrived. There were more riders who had saved their efforts on the final climb, however, with Voisard and Higuita making it a five-man fight in the final run for home.
With everyone faltering, Higuita hit the front and he was the next to look set for victory. But Voisard had timed his effort just right, swinging out of his wheel and beating him to the line, with Eulálio also running out of steam.
Pre-stage race leader Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was dropped with 3.4km to go, with the 10 bonus seconds gained through the win placing Voisard into the lead of the race with two stages left to race. He leads the race from Eulálio by four seconds, with six seconds over Higuita.
How it unfolded
After two days of rapid racing in strong winds, with echelons forming and sand being whipped into the peloton before a pair of Jonathan Milan-dominated sprints, the third stage of the AlUla Tour was relatively calm for much of the opening 130km.
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A three-man breakaway quickly formed heading out of Winter Park, with Malaysia's Terengganu Cycling Team continuing to make their presence known in front through Zhe Yie Kee and Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli, alongside Nader Hazazi from the Saudi Arabia national team.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG did most of the chasing on the front for Christen, with Hazazi the first to be caught back 58km from the line. The two Terengganu riders put on a better showing, but were also reeled back in as the race reached the final 26 kilometres.
With the intermediate sprint approaching, Bahrain Victorious jumped off the front with their two sprinters, Phil Bauhaus and Daniel Skerl, to take the maximum bonus seconds on offer. Cresting this point led the race into the descent towards the final climb.
There was big drama on the rapid downhill road with a high-speed crash for three riders, Davide Stella (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Laurenz Rex (Soudal-QuickStep) and Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies), who were flung off their bikes and onto the rocky side of the road, requiring medical attention.
Jayco AlUla took control in the final 5km, lining out the group with four riders on the front for either of their leaders, Paul Double or Alan Hatherly. It was their acceleration which dropped many of the pure sprinters, including race leader Jonathan Milan, with 3.4km to go.
Christen opened up the attacking with a surprise long-range move, forcing Double to hit the front and surging in pursuit. Eulálio closely followed, but it was only Garofoli who made it across to the Swiss rider's wheel.
The Italian refused to pull through in the leading pair, as groups behind faltered, and Christen hit him with a big burst inside the final 1.2km. His time alone didn't last long, though, as Eulálio powered across, though Christen's teammate Arrieta was in his wheel.
However, the bigger threat came from further back, with Higuita looking sharp in the wheel and trying to get a gap as Eulálio pulled off the front. The Portuguese rider followed hard, but it was Voisard who had the most left before the line, with the Tudor man kicking away to a clear but hard-fought victory.
Results
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