UK’s Yates takes control of UAE Tour with stage three victory

LONDON: Great Britain’s Adam Yates took control of the UAE Tour with a brilliant stage three win as Chris Froome finished well down the field.

Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) made a devastating attack on Jebel Hafeet, attacking six kilometres from the summit to take the stage by one minute and three seconds from Tadej Pocagar (UAE Team Emirates).

Pocagar (+01:07) and Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko (+1:35) are Yates’ nearest challengers with four stages to go. The 27-year-old from Bury, who has changed his programme this year after disappointing at the Tour de France over the last two summers, now looks well placed to win the race. “I attacked early because, this race being the first of the season for me, it was hard to know how everyone is going,” Yates was quoted as saying on theuaetour.com.

Australia’s Caleb Ewan started the day as race leader but he sat up before the final 10km climb.