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.
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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."
How it unfolded
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