Tour Colombia: Molano wins stage 3

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Sebastian Molano captured his first victory for UAE Team Emirates from a small group sprint to win stage 3 at the Tour Colombia 2.1. The Colombian was the fastest of the group that emerged after the last climb, winning the sprint ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Diego Ochoa (Manzana Postobon).

It was a tactical battle over the final climb before the finish in Llanogrande. Riders within a shot of the overall lead pushed the paces to bring back the day's decisive breakaway with in 10km to go.

Attacks came from Movistar's Nairo Quintana and Richard Carapaz, along with Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First), all of whom tried to gain small gaps, but all efforts were short-lived as the dwindled peloton raced under the kilometre-to-go banner, setting up for the sprint finish.

Urán finished in the front group and took back the overall lead as the Tour Colombia heads into stage 4.

"It was a beautiful moment, to get my first win with my new team and doing so here in Colombia – it's fantastic," Molano said after taking over as the team's protected sprinter following Fernando Gaviria's illness. "Gaviria unfortunately was not well. I had a big responsibility and I was able to repay the enormous trust given to me by the team.

"I felt great all day, on the climbs my legs were good and I found myself secure in the finishing straight for the sprint. The work of my teammates getting there was perfect all day. I want to thank the team who kept me going throughout the stage."

How it unfolded

The third stage in Colombia took place on a 167.6km loop that took the peloton through Llanogrande por Rionegro, San Antonio de Pereira, La Ceja and Don Diego. The third category Alto el Nano, which featured 195 metres of elevation gain over 3.5km, topped out at 2,355 metres and was a serious obstacle for the sprinters.

The first prize on offer during the stage was the Alto el Nano KOM at 25.3km. Three intermediate sprints at 41.9, 83.3 and 125.7km followed to liven up the day with time bonuses of three seconds, two seconds and one second for the first three to cross the line.

Before the stage started, UAE Team Emirates revealed the Fernando Gaviria, who won three stages at the 2018 Oro y Paz, would not start due to a respiratory illness.

Escape attempts flew early, but nothing was able to stick, and the peloton approached the first KOM together. Astana Miguel Angel Lopez took top honours there ahead of Movistar's Richard Carapaz and Oscar Quiroz (Strongman Bicycles).

After the KOM and starting the second circuit, a group of six riders broke away that included Carapaz, Lopez, Cristian Muñoz (Paisa Pride), Dayer Quintana (Neri Sottoli) and Oscar Quiroz (Strongman Bicycles). The dangerous move immediately drew the attention from the field, and the escapees were quickly back in the fold early during the second lap.

Alvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-QuickStep) proved himself the fastest sprinter in the race again at the first intermediate test, where he beat Team Sky's Egan Bernal and Jhonatan Narvaez. Bernal boosted his GC potential with a two-second time bonus.

Astana set the pace the second time up Alto Nano, setting a pace meant to make the sprinters pay, but a second group sneaked away over the top, where William Munoz (Strogman Bicycles) took maximum points ahead of Fabio Duarte (Medellin) and Brayan Ramirez (Coldeportes Zenu). Also in the group were Jose Castro (GW Shimano) and Marvin Angarita (Colombia).

The new leaders built a gap of 4:20 to the bunch 82km into the stage. The gap grew to five minutes just 8km later as the bunch appeared confident it could pull the escapees back. Angarita took the top bonus at the second sprint, followed by Ramirez and Duarte as the gap held above five minutes.

The third time up Alto Nano dislodged Castro from the group, leaving Munoz, Duarte Ramirez and Angarita off the front. Munoz took top honours again on the climb, followed this time by Duarte and Angarita.

The peloton split in two on the climb, with all of the top GC riders in the front group. Hodeg was in the second group, two minutes behind the bunch and looked to be ceding his leader's jersey.

EF Education First came forward with Team Sky to help power the chase, and soon the leaders' gap was down to a more manageable 2:20. The quartet started the final 41.9km circuit with less than two minutes' advantage on the group.

With 32km remaining, the gap to the leaders had fallen to 1:25. By 20km the advantage was down to just 40 seconds. Their efforts came to an end with roughly 10km to go when the small field containing many of the best climbers in the world began attacking one another on the winding ascent toward Llanogrande.

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