UAE Tour: Valverde captures first win in rainbow jersey

Alejandro Valverde picked up his first victory in the rainbow jersey on Tuesday, winning stage 3 at the UAE Tour.

The Movistar rider edged Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) atop the finishing climb of Jebel Hafeet, a 10.1-kilometer ascent with an average gradient of 6.6 percent.

“I really wanted to get my first win of the year. It’s been difficult but I felt good and I had the advantage of knowing the climb very well so I could choose my pace,” Valverde said. “I knew I had to repeat the exact same tactics as last year. My priority was to win a stage. If I can add the GC, it’s great. If not, it doesn’t matter after what I achieved today with the help of my team.”

The 179km route started at UAE University and was mostly flat until the Jebel Hafeet climb.

Roglic appeared to be the strongest rider on the climb, and surged away from the group midway up the climb alongside Gaudu to chase down a surging Dan Martin (UAE-Team Emirates). The acceleration distanced many of the pre-race GC favorites, including Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky), and Valverde.

The trio was eventually joined by German rider Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), and the stage appeared set for a four-man battle to the finish.

That’s when Valverde made his move. The Spaniard attacked out of the second group and bridged up to a fading Martin just as the climb hit its steepest pitches. Valverde then made another surge to catch Roglic, Buchmann, and Gaudu just as the road began to level out inside the final kilometers. The fastest finisher, Valverde made his winning surge inside 500 meters to go.

After crossing the line the Spaniard let out a scream of satisfaction.

“I felt good, so I knew I could wait to make my move,” Valverde said after the stage. “Before, when saw Roglic and a few others attacking, I chose to climb at my pace, but I knew I would come across.”

Valverde said he was familiar with the climb. He won atop Jabel Hafeet when the Abu Dhabi Tour finished on the mountain in 2018.

Valverde’s result shook up the general classification standings, as he now sits in second — 14 seconds behind Roglic. Gaudu is now third at 31 seconds behind.

“It’s true that I’ve tried to win the stage as well as defending the jersey,” Roglic said. “It was my first time here so I didn’t know the finish but most importantly we’ve showed today with the guys that we are a super strong team.”

The race resumes Wednesday with the 205km stage 4 from Palm Jumeirah to Hatta Dam.