A counter-attack now from Astana, and it's Merhawi Kudus. They cross the line 1:29 down on Yates. "Pogacar is the guy to watch, for sure, if you saw him in Valencia. View full results of Stage 3 in UAE Tour 2020 from Al Qudra Cycle Track to Jebel Hafeet over 184 kilometre. The breakaway are caught just as the climb begins. It's a power climb, on a smooth wide road and while the group of favourites will be whittled right down, the gaps between them aren't usually very big. Back uphill again now and he's out of the saddle and into the final bend.Yates sits up, raises his arms and crosses the linePogacar is in damage limitation mode here as he sprints up the final rise. Yates heads under the flamme rouge with 43 seconds still in hand. For more on the emus (and to hear from Chris Froome, Adam Yates, and Sam Bennett), The gap between the four escapees and the peloton stands at five minutes with 100km to go.There was a crash in the bunch a little earlier, with Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Carlos Rodgriguez (Ineos) among those to hit the deck. Hello there and welcome back to the Cyclingnews live race centre for coverage of stage 3 of the UAE Tour. "Jebel Hafeet is 10.8km long with an average gradient of 5.4%.
That’s not ideal for me but, like I said before, I’ll get stuck in.
Date: 2020-02-23 - 2020-02-29 Race class: 2.UWT Race category: Men Elite UCI-Tour: UCI Worldtour Total distance: km.
EMIRATES NBD Wed, Feb 26 th 2020; stage 5. 3 minutes now, as we approach the final 50km. It does, however, rise at 7-8% consistently for a good 7km, after a gentle start and before a finish that eases slightly and even includes a mini descent. Yates is up there behind them. I came here a few days early to check out the climb. He’s in really good shape and for the UAE team it’s a really big race. 5.9km from the summit and the British climber makes his move. The next intermediate sprint is coming up in just over 15km' time. In Tadej Pogacar, they have one of the big favourites for today's stage and the overall title.
Here's how the points were shared out at that sprintOld pedals, tubular tyres, flipped shifters... there's plenty of interest on Mark Cavendish's bike. Sites. We've mentioned Pogacar, Valverde, Yates, Ciccone, Dunbar, but there's also Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Wout Poels (Bahrain McLaren), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), James Knox (Deceuninck-QuickStep), and Ilnur Zakarin (CCC Team). I’m definitely not at my normal shape, where I left off eight months ago, but I’ll get there. Here's a look at our four breakaway riders (from left to right): Campenaerts, Steels, De Buyst, Marengo.The gap is down to four minutes now, as we head into the final 80km and the final couple of hours of racing. They know, however, that there's no chance of staying away, and this is more of a training outing - at least for the WorldTour representatives. Mitchelton-Scott have taken the reigns in the group of favourites, with Tsgabu Grmay ahead of Yates. The gap continues to fall steadily. The breakaway riders are really trying to up the tempo now as we head into the final hour. It looks like a gentle crosswind for the most part on the final climb. The clock is ticking and he grimaces as he enters the final bend. Daniel Benson caught up with him yesterday and the four-time Tour de France winner revealed how he had to re-learn how to walk, and how he had to go under the knife for a third time in December after an infection from a previous surgery. It's a big one today, as we're currently heading for Jebel Hafeet and the 10-kilometre final climb. No serious harm done. He outgunned Primoz Roglic and Miguel Ángel López in two-up sprints, respectively in 2019 and 2018.The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while two intermediate sprints – at kilometre 150.5 and kilometre 170.5 – come with 3, 2 and 1 seconds.Milan - San Remo 2020: Van Aert outguns Alaphilippe in two-up sprintTour de l'Ain 2020: Roglic wins six-up sprint to take GC leadTour de Pologne 2020: Evenepoel solos to leader's jerseyTour de l'Ain 2020 Route stage 2: Lagnieu - Lélex Monts-JuraTour de l'Ain 2020 Route stage 3: Saint Vulbas - Grand ColombierTour de Pologne 2020 Route stage 4: Bukovina Resort - Bukovina TatranskaTour de France 2020 Favourites stage 1: Fight for yellowTour de France 2020 Favourites stage 2: Climbers with descending skillsTour de France 2020 Favourites stage 3: Sisteron's sprint festTour de France 2020 Route stage 4: Sisteron - Orcières-MerletteTour de France 2020 Favourites stage 4: Attackers or GC ridersTour de France 2020 Favourites stage 5: Strong sprinters on false flat finishTour de France 2020 Route stage 6: Le Teil - Mont AigoualTour de France 2020 Route stage 8: Cazères - LoudenvielleTour de France 2020 Route stage 10: Île d'Oléron - Île de RéTour de France 2020 Route stage 11: Châtelaillon-Plage - PoitiersTour de France 2020 Route stage 12: Chauvigny - Sarran CorrèzeTour de France 2020 Route stage 13: Châtel-Guyon - Puy MaryTour de France 2020 Route stage 14: Clermont-Ferrand - LyonTour de France 2020 Route stage 15: Lyon - Grand ColombierTour de France 2020 Route stage 16: La Tour-du-Pin - Villard-de-LansTour de France 2020 Route stage 17: Grenoble - Col de la LozeTour de France 2020 Route stage 18: Méribel - La Roche-sur-ForonTour de France 2020 Route stage 19: Bourg-en-Bresse - ChampagnoleTour de France 2020 Route stage 20: Lure - La Planche des Belles FillesTour de France 2020 Route stage 21: Mantes-la-Jolie - ParisAdam Yates climbs to leader's jersey on Jebel Hafeet
Correction. It's only a brief bit of respite, though. Lutsenko comes through for a turn now and these two will be a force if they work together. The ascent is not very regular though. I’ve still got a lot of training to do ahead of the Tour de France but this is a good step and the body is feeling good. After that I should be better. It’s suits me well," the Bahrain McLaren rider told us this morning. Expect more of the same. It’s going to be tough because already with the heat it’s 33.
We’ll go from there.