Kangert victorious in queen stage of Abu Dhabi Tour, assumes lead

Astana’s hardworking Estonian Tanel Kangert won solo on Saturday’s queen stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour, taking over the leader’s jersey from Mark Cavendish (Great Britain/Dimension Data) with one stage remaining.

After a couple of flat, sprinter’s stages, the riders finally had some climbing to do, with the 10-km clamber up Jabel Hafeet surely to turn the GC on its head.

It's queen stage time at #RideToAbuDhabi. The final climb should shape the GC this weekend. Day three starts now! @VeloViewer @VelonCC pic.twitter.com/g1fA5SqIdN

— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) October 22, 2016

Early in the 150-km leg, Rio Olympic Games champion Greg van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC) stole away with three other riders. After 30-km the quartet had 5:00 over the peloton. Astana and Tinkoff set riders on the front of the field to keep an eye on the gap. Some hard driving from Sky when the wind picked up brought the fugitives closer.

The peloton split in the action, with a group of 40 the closest to the escapees. With 32-km to go and 22-km before the road tilted up, the catch was made. At that point Orica-BikeExchange seized control of the front.

#RideToAbuDhabi Less than 40km to go on stage 3, breakaway caught by the first peloton, summit finish at Jebel Hafeet up ahead. #OBErocks pic.twitter.com/5ZCtLxjyr7

— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) October 22, 2016

There was more than just the climb to consider–the day’s intermediate sprint was set near Jabel Hafeet’s foot. Just as the sprinter’s teams gathered themselves for the scrap, two Movistar riders bolted, drawing van Avermaet. As soon as the new break was caught, Orica’s new fellow Carlos Verona (Spain) attacked.

Verona nabbed a 25-second lead with 7.5-km left to climb. Diego Ulissi (Italy/Lampre) and Kangert formed the closest chase. The chase received reinforcements and swamped Verona with 6-km to go.

Then it was Kangert and Nicolas Roche (Ireland/Sky) dashing away on the slope, with Tinkoff’s Dane Jesper Hansen trying to come across. Once Hansen was reeled in Dimension Data’s Mekseb Debesay (Eritrea) lit out after the leading duo.

Kangert dropped Roche with 3.5-km to the top. The road flattened out in the final 2-km, but the chasers couldn’t make any inroads into the Estonian’s lead. After winning stages of the Tour de Suisse and Giro del Trentino, Kangert is poised to take his first stage race triumph.

Sunday’s final stage is a 26-lap crit in Abu Dhabi.

2016 Abu Dhabi Tour Stage 3
1) Tanel Kangert (Estonia/Astana) 3:31:31
2) Nicolas Roche (Ireland/Sky) +0:17
3) Mekseb Debesay (Eritrea/Dimension Data) +0:33

2016 Abu Dhabi Tour GC
1) Tanel Kangert (Estonia/Astana) 9:19:41
2) Nicolas Roche (Ireland/Sky) +0:21
3) Diego Ulissi (Italy/Lampre) +0:43