Valverde relishes his maiden victory in the Rainbow Jersey
jebel Hafeet — Alejandro Valverde won atop Jebel Hafeet for the second straight time — but enjoyed this victory even more as it was his first in the World Champion’s Rainbow Jersey.
The Spaniard timed his effort perfectly to come across to race leader Primoz Roglic who rode aggressively, followed by 22-year-old Frenchman David Gaudu who became the best young rider by accompanying the two established champions in the top 3, both on Stage 3’s result and on GC.
“This is another historical victory for me. It’s a photocopy of last year’s win but it’s special this time because of being the World Champion now. It’s incredible. I felt good, so I didn’t panic when Roglic attacked. I knew exactly where I wanted to speed up. Jebel Hafeet is a very nice place for winning with the Rainbow Jersey,” Valverde said.
The Red Jersey, Primoz Roglic, said: “It’s easy to say after the stage that I would have raced differently, had I known the climb like Alejandro (Valverde) did but eventually, he was the strongest anyway and he deserves the victory. We have a strong team to defend the jersey. We have to stay focused like we did up to now and at the end of the UAE Tour we’ll be happy.”
UAE Team Emirates’ Dan Martin put in a determined performance for a fifth place finish and a top 10 spot in the General Classification. Martin finished the race 12 seconds behind the eventual winner Valverde.
The first 170kms of the race were played out on flat roads — the peloton riding at a steady pace, with nothing to challenge them other than a series of blustery head winds. As the riders hit the foot of Jebel Hafeet the peloton was still together, but its tight formation didn’t last long. The pace was ramped up by the pure climbers and riders began to be shed out the back of the pack as gradients reached 7 per cent.
With 9kms to go UAE Team Emirates’ Diego Ullisi pulled the pin and accelerated off the front, taking two riders with him. The attack forced his rivals to chase hard, with Dan Martin astutely following their wheels and reserving his energy for the latter part of the climb.
As a depleted lead group hit the 4km to go marker Dan Martin rose out of the saddle and increased the power braking apart the bunch to leave his rivals spread all over the mountain. He then led a four man breakaway until the final 2kms when he could no longer hold the high tempo and dropped off the back.