Today the third stage of the Dubai Tour was held. The peloton passed 205 km of hilly roads from Dubai to Hatta Dam over the Hajar Mountains.

John Degenkolb from Giant-Alpecin took the stage after his powerful sprint on a 17% gradient uphill finish in Hatta. The daily podium was completed by two Movistar riders – Alejandro Valverde (2nd) and Juan Jose Lobato (3rd). Degenkolb became the new GC leader.

Team Katusha tried to do an active race. With 9 km to go Angel Vicioso was the rider, who attacked from the peloton, while in the final Joaquim Rodriguez, Eduard Vorganov and Egor Silin looked for a good result. Finally, Vorganov was the best Katusha rider today with 20th position (+0.10).

"We did not plan any early attacks because Rodriguez, Vicioso, Vorganov and Silin tried to save energy for the uphill final sprint to get a good result. However, the sprint was too fast and, I admit, our riders missed the legs in the final because their form is not the yet optimal in this moment of the season. Tomorrow we will have another sprinters’ stage and the team will be 100% for Aleksandr Porsev, who is doing a strong race here," said head sports director José Azevedo.

In the last part of the race there was a crash on the moment the peloton came out of a tunnel. Katusha’s Sergei Chernetckii was involved, but fortunately, he avoided any serious consequences.

Tomorrow will be held the final 4th stage of the Dubai Tour (123 km).