Adam Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) put on an impressive performance on the mountain top finish on Jebel Hafeet when the Brit dropped all his rivals and soloed to victory on stage 3 of UAE Tour. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) finished second, while Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) took third place. The win also gave Yates the red leader’s jersey as he’s now over one minute ahead of Pogacar in the general classification.

Unlike the first two days, nobody seemed eager to attack right from the start of the stage. In fact, it took almost 20 km before four riders dared to get away. The quartet worked well together and the gap quickly went up to over seven minutes before the peloton decided to start the chase.

UAE Team Emirates, Trek-Segafredo and Mitchelton-SCOTT committed to bring back the breakaway and as the riders started on the final climb, it was all back together again.

Victor de la Parte (CCC Team) was the first one to attack. The Spaniard managed to distance the others for a while but then Yates took over the show. Only Lutsenko and David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ) could follow the Brit’s initial attack and the trio quickly caught and passed De la Parte on the steep slopes.

With 5.2 km to go, Yates attacked once more and this time, nobody could keep up with him. Pogacar sensed the danger and attacked from the peloton but despite a brave fight, not even the Slovenian wonderkid had the legs to close the gap to Yates who crossed the finish line 1:03 minutes ahead of Pogacar and with 1:30 minutes down to Lutsenko in third.

Tomorrow awaits a day for the sprinters in UAE Tour. However, as the wind is expected to pick up, we might get to see a some crosswind action as the riders make their way from Zabeel Park to Dubai City Walk.