photo credits @ AlUla Tour
Yannis Voisard claimed stage 3 of the AlUla Tour today, after the Swiss rider managed to hold off Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) and Sergio Higuita (XDS Astana Team) along the gruelling uphill finish at Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah.
Earlier action saw a three-man breakaway group containing Terengganu Cycling Team’s Zhe Yie Kee and Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli, as well as Nader Hazazi from the Saudi Arabia national team, escape the peloton after heading out of Winter Park.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG did most of the chasing, with Hazazi the first to be reined in with 58 kilometers to go, while the two Terengganu riders were eventually caught with 26 kilometers remaining.
With the intermediate sprint approaching, Bahrain Victorious attacked off the front with its two sprinters, Phil Bauhaus and Daniel Skerl, to take the maximum bonus seconds on offer before the peloton made its way along the descent towards the final climb.
From there, big drama unfolded on the downhill, with Davide Stella (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Laurenz Rex (Soudal-QuickStep) and Fabien Grellier (TotalEnergies) caught up in a serious crash, requiring medical attention for the trio.
Jayco AlUla took control during the last 5 kilometers, dropping many of the pure sprinters like Jonathan Milan with just over 3 kilometers to go.
Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) later commenced a long-range attack, forcing Paul Double (Jayco AlUla) to hit the front in pursuit, but only Eulálio managed to follow the Swiss rider’s move.
Christen later hit Eulálio with another searing attack inside the final 1.2km, but the Italian rider powered his way back, with Arrieta on his wheel.
In the meantime, both Higuita and Voisard made up lost ground on the three leaders, with the Tudor rider kicking away during the waning moments of the stage to seize the day’s honors.
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