Rui Costa wins mountain stage in Abu Dhabi Tour

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Rui Costa (UAE Emirates) won a two man sprint on the mountaintop finish of the third stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour. He had taken off in the final uphill kilometers with Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) who finished second, only seconds down. Third place went to Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), who had given chase.

The expected showdown between the top favourites never took place. With teammate Bauke Mollema up near the front, Contador was not willing to give too much chase. He stayed as close to Nairo Quintana as possible, so that the Colombian would not take the win.

Zakarin and Rui Costa took advantage of the rivalry to seek their chance. Dumoulin jumped from the group on the climb, but was unable to catch the two leaders. He finished third in his season race debut.

Fabio Aru was the other top finisher amongst the favourites, crossing the line as sixth.The new GC reflected the stage results, with Rui Costa taking the race lead ahead of Zakarin and Dumoulin.

"I started the final climb a long way back and I had to put a lot of effort in to reach the front of the peloton," Rui Costa said at the finish.

"When I got there I realised that my legs were good and I tried to surprise the others with an attack from a long way out. That was the right tactic. I was still suffering from the initial effort so I saved myself with Zakarin at the end to recuperate for the final sprint. For us it was very important to have a great result here."

"I can’t say I was under pressure but psychologically I knew we had to perform at our best. We won and there couldn’t be a better result. We are extremely happy for this victory here in Abu Dhabi, with a new sponsor and a brand new jersey. I’m very happy with this victory that will boost my morale for the remainder of the season".

How it unfolded

After an opening couple of flat stages that were ticked off in relaxed fashion, the peloton was a bit more tense on the third stage, and not just because the decisive climb was looming. The wind was blowing hard and, with a few changes of direction on the loop out from and back through Al Ain ahead of the climb, the GC teams had to be particularly attentive.

Movistar, especially, were prominent, and though there were a few moments where echelons threatened to form, the bunch never ended up splitting.

There were four riders in the breakaway: Simone Andreetta (Bardiani), Pavel Brutt (Gazprom Rusvelo), Alan Marangoni (Nippo Vini Fantini) and Stephen Clancy (Novo Nordisk).

They built a lead of around four minutes but it fell rapidly as the pace in the bunch intensified in the crosswind section. After that there was some confusion as red flags were waved – with multiple soigneurs cars being called to pass, but with some teams saying the race was neutralised because of the sand being blown into the road.

The peloton duly eased up, though if there was indeed a brief neutralisation then it wasn’t communicated to the escapees, who once again stretched their lead to four minutes.

Predictably, it was all together ahead of the final climb, with the GC teams doing their best to deliver their men in good positions.

Nairo Quintana was the first to attack with just under a kilometre of the ascent covered. He was marked closely by Contador – as he would be the entire way up.

Costa made the next big attack with around 6.5km to go, coming through from behind but never stopping his effort. Manuele Senni and Ruben Fernandez tracked him for a while, and soon Zakarin set out in pursuit, joining up after a couple of kilometres

Quintana attacked again, but Contador was alive to it, as was Nibali, and Quintana slowed before digging again and then lulling once more – he knew he was a marked man.

At this point lots of others tried their luck, including Steven Kruijswijk and Mathias Frank, with Dumoulin soon going after them and passing them. Tejay Van Garderen was dropped, Fabio Aru put in a brief attack, but the next meaningful move came from Mollema with 3km to go. He dropped Kruijswijk and Frank and had Dumoulin in sight but by that point Zakarin and Costa, who worked well together before turning to rivals.

Costa tracked a big acceleration from Zakarin towards the flamme rouge and from there he had it. A short downhill section ensued and when the road kicked up to the line he was the fresher and skipped away to take his second win of the season, and a first since his team was rebranded as UAE Team Emirates.

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