The final stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour is well underway with just 110km remaining. Five riders have escaped up the road and hold a 1:09 advantage over the peloton.
The riders in the breakaway are Michal Paluta (CCC Sprandi), Yauhen Sobal (Misnk), Kristian House (One Pro Cycling), Fredrik Frisson (Lotto-Soudal), Sergey Firsanov (Gazprom-Rusvelo).
Astana have two riders at the head of the peloton and with the pace that they're setting the group has strung out into one long line. They're looking after the interests of Kangert who won yesterday's queen stage. This was how things finished on the Jebel Hafeet.
1 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 3:31:31 2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:17 3 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:33 4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre - Merida 5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 0:00:50 6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 7 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:52 8 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:01:19 9 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:28 10 Jesper Hansen (Den) Tinkoff Team
The top 10 in the GC looks distinctly similar to that of the stage result, but with a few bonus seconds thrown in for good measure. There's still an opportunity to nick the overall lead from Kangert but it's unlikely.
1 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 9:19:44 2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:21 3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre - Merida 0:00:43 4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:00 5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 6 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:02 7 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:01:29 8 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:38 9 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 10 Jesper Hansen (Den) Tinkoff Team
The sun has all but set and the riders are now racing under the floodlights of the Yas Marina circuit. In just over a month's time, it will play host to the finale of the F1 season but for now it is the playground of the cyclists. The lights of the Yas Viceroy hotel are also glistening in all their splendor.
93km remaining from 143km
Dimension Data are also lending a hand to the management of the pace with Mark Cavendish looking for a second stage win.
It's all very relaxed inside the bunch and the riders are taking the opportunity to discuss their off-season plans. It has been a very long season for most of them so they'll surely be looking forward to a little bit of r&r.
This isn't the only racing in Asia this weekend. Over in the far east, Davide Villella took his first win of the season with victory in the Japan Cup. Find the full results here.
84km remaining from 143km
With 84km to go, the five up front hold a 1:30 lead on the peloton.
#RideToAbuDhabi Check out @Giacomonizzolo's live data to see the speed of the peloton on this fast F1 course:… https://t.co/nCV4juHyOc
Mark Cavendish is sitting around 10 riders back in the peloton barking orders at his teammates. He's keen on this victory.
The leaders are passing through the feed zone and picking up some bidons. The temperature has dropped with the sunshine and the riders are not suffering the same slippery bidon problems as they did at the World Championships in Qatar.
71km remaining from 143km
After going out to almost two minutes, the pace has really picked up and the peloton has closed the gap to the escapees to 1:30 with 13 laps remaining.
There are plenty of sprinters who have their eyes on victory today. We mentioned Cavendish, who won stage two, but stage 1 winner Giacomo Nizzolo is also a contender. Others in contention for the win today are Jempy Drucker, Elia Viviani, Jakub Mareczko and John Degenkolb. Andre Greipel won't be in action after abandoning before yesterday's stage.
Confirmation of the result for the first of three intermediate sprints on Stage 4 of the #AbuDhabiTour. https://t.co/TCVYSaVZgB
If you want to catch up with the action from yesterday's queen stage, check out the on-board highlights right here.
This year's Abu Dhabi race has featured some live on-board footage. It comes at a ugly price though with a whacking great big router on the back of the bike. This photo was taken by Colombian journalist Goga Ruiz-Sandoval ahead of yesterday's stage.
55km remaining from 143km
Just under a minute for the escapees now as the peloton snakes through the sweeping curves of the track.
Frison and House duke it out for the intermediate sprint with House taking the honours.
That's 16 points for House after he won the first sprint as well. Keukeleire still leads the competition with 32 points to his name.
1 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-BikeExchange 32 pts 2 Dion Smith (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 18 3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 10 4 Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 8 5 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina-Southeast 8 6 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange 4 7 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Astana Pro Team 4 8 Michael O'loughlin (Irl) Team WIGGINS 3 9 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 3 10 Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre - Merida 2
#RideToAbuDhabi 50km to go... not much of a change to proceedings. The 5 leaders have 1'00". @JayRThomson still doing some good pacing.
The Chrono des Nations has not long come to its conclusion. Ann-Sophie Duyck won the women's race while Vasil Kiryienka defended his title in the men's competition.
Race leader Tanel Kangert racing under the lights in Abu Dhabi.
39km remaining from 143km
The peloton has knocked off the speed a bit and that has given the escapees a bit of a break. They've extended their lead to 1:23 but it's only staving off the inevitable catch.
Down under, the Crocodile Trophy is under way. Annemiek van Vleuten said she wasn't taking the mountain bike race too seriously but she has moved into the race lead after stage 2, while Urs Huber is leading the men's event. You can find the results and some photos from stage 2, here.
A nice shot from earlier in the day as the peloton ride under the setting sun.
31km remaining from 143km
As we approach the finale of this stage, there's a lot more action up the front of the peloton. Wilier are busy trying to get riders to the head of proceedings.
Giant Alpecin and Team Sky are also moving up the bunch.
It's single file only as the bunch hugs the inside line of the track. The race is really on now.
27km remaining from 143km
Kristian House jumps out of the leading group to take the points for the intermediate sprint. He goes unchallenged and takes them easily.
House drops back to his breakaway companions. They'll need all the firepower they can get with the bunch just a minute behind.
House has 24 points after winning all three of the intermediate sprints but it's not good enough to topple Jens Keukeleire from the top spot. The Belgian will hold onto that jersey now provided he can finish the race.
4 laps to go!
21km remaining from 143km
Only 47 seconds for the escapees. How much longer can they hold out?
John Degenkolb having a lengthy discussion with one of his teammates. Making plans for the finish?
20km to go of Stage 4...@Abu_Dhabi_Tour. We're set for a thrilling finish. Stage set. #RideToAbuDhabi https://t.co/qICT2N09zp
Just 30 seconds left for the escapees and Frison decides that the time is right for an attack.
14km remaining from 143km
Behind, Floris Gerts has made his own attack.
Gerts catches the escapees with ease and carries on past them. They're struggling to stay in his wheel.
In fact, Gerts has only caught part of the escape group, Firsanov and Sobal. Frison, house and Paluta have gone up the road.
11km remaining from 143km
The new-look leading group has 27 seconds on the Gerts led chasers and 45 seconds on the peloton.
The peloton is closing this down quickly and they've caught the chasing group. The three leaders are now just 27 seconds up the road.
It's Dimension Data leading the peloton with Astana in their wheels.
The peloton can now see the three escapees up the road. House is doing the bulk of work on the front but it's likely a fruitless task.
The bell tolls as the leaders cross the line for the final lap and they have only 15 seconds to play with.
4km remaining from 143km
Just a few metres now and Paluta and Frison are attacking, trying to keep the peloton at bay.
They realise it's not going to happen and they sit up, allowing the peloton to blast past.
The peloton has split into two as the sprint trains form. BMC lead one as Dimension Data lead the other.
They come back together and it's now Orica-BikeExchange pulling on the front. They're flying along at over 60kph.
It's really strung out and there are some splits happening down the line of riders.
It was a Sky rider that lost the wheel but they bring it back and just in time as they go under the flamme rouge.
Dimension Data winds up the sprint
Cavendish wins
Renshaw's lead-out actually proved too quick and he pulled out a gap, leaving Cavendish to find his own way out.
Cavendish had more than enough pace though, beating Nizzolo by a bike's length. Viviani takes a distant third.
The top 10 for today's final stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour.
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 3:07:44 2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 4 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-BikeExchange 5 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team 6 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 7 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange 8 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre - Merida 9 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 10 Michal Kolár (Svk) Tinkoff Team
Tanel Kangert secures the overall victory after finishing safely in the bunch. The Estonian has had a very good 2016 season.
Here is how the overall classification looks after the final stage.
1 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 12:27:34 2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky 0:00:21 3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre - Merida 0:00:43 4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:00 5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 6 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:02 7 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:01:29 8 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:01:38 9 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 10 Jesper Hansen (Den) Tinkoff Team
That is it from the Abu Dhabi Tour, thank you for joining us. You can find the results, report and photos right here.
