With every race Grega Bole gets stronger and stronger and he proved that by claiming 7th place on the hardest stage of Dubai Tour. The very steep uphill finish was won by John Degenkolb.

"I wanted to start the last climb in the front and I managed to do so. I waited with the sprint until 200m before the line and I was able to take 7th place, which I am very satisfied with. Again we had some bad luck in the end, because Maciej Paterski punctured and I was left by myself. Throughout the entire stage the team worked great and I want to thank all my teammates for their help," Grega Bole said afterwards. "Tomorrow we will try to bring Grzegorz Stepniak to do sprint in the best possible position and I will have to make sure I don’t lose any seconds so I keep my place in the overall standings."

Thanks to Bole's good performance he moved up to 6th in GC, 12 seconds behind the new leader and stage winner, John Degenkolb.

Luka Pibernik (Lampre – Merida), Mohammed Al Murawwi, Vladimir Gusev (obaj Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team), Martijn Verschoor (Team Novo Nordisk) and Alessandro Bazzana (UnitedHealthcare) broke clear early in the race and they established almost a 10-minute advantage. The entire breakaway was brought back in with 33km to go and Pibernik and Bazzana were the last one to get caught.

CCC Sprandi Polkowice played a big role in closing the gap. Sylwester Szmyd and Maciej Paterski were setting up the pace on the first major climb of the day and split the field, leaving the race leader, Mark Cavendish behind. 

With 29km to go, when the groups came back together, Francisco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team) launched an attack. Later he was joined by Lars Boom (Astana) but eventually they were both reeled in.

On the decisive, very steep climb to Hatta, John Degenkolb went all in and proved to be one of the most powerful riders in the peloton. He attacked 300 m before the line and hanged on to win stage 3. Two Movistar riders, Alejandro Valverde and Juan José Lobato, also made the stage podium.