Après une deuxième étape spéciale, car neutralisée jusqu'à 5 kilomètres de l'arrivée, les choses revenaient à la normale ce jeudi pour la troisième étape. 180 kilomètres sans aucune difficulté répertoriée, propice à un sprint massif à Tayma Fort. Prudence cependant car les 20 derniers kilomètres étaient globalement en descente et exposée au vent. Sur une arrivée ultra-rapide marquée par des bordures, qui d'autre que Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) pour s'imposer ? Le sprinteur belge a largement dominé le sprint final, devançant Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) et Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates XRG). Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) reste leader de la course.
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SportTranscription
00:00It was a long time coming, so it wasn't like a, yeah, a big moment.
00:14I felt a big weight off my shoulders, a big sense of relief, a big sense of freedom.
00:20Stage wins or GC this week?
00:22Yeah, both.
00:23They were coming together, I think.
00:25Mica starts to turn the pressure.
00:28Pidcock seems to be still in control of this race.
00:32And here goes the attack.
00:34All the pressure, all the stress,
00:36all those moments where Pidcock wasn't believed in.
00:40He has now put it all on the pedals.
00:42He's answered every single question.
00:50Tom Pidcock seized control of the Alula Tour yesterday
00:53with a brilliant showing on Bir Jai, the mountain.
00:56But can he keep hold of that green jersey until the end of the race?
01:00Well, we probably won't find out today,
01:02because this is another one for the sprinters.
01:04We're heading from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hegra to the Tamer Forts.
01:09Tim Moliere looked supreme on stage one,
01:12but plenty of other fast men are going to be trying to deny him
01:15a second stage win today, and the wind could also be a major factor.
01:26The exposed roads in this region lend themselves to the possibility of echelons
01:30and there are crosswinds forecast in the final
01:32as the peloton head north to Tamer Forts.
01:38The finish is also extremely technical with several twists and turns.
01:42Decidedly, this is a stage where anything is possible.
01:56The wind coming from the east this morning at around 18 kilometres an hour,
02:00which meant the peloton were driving into a headwind.
02:03The early average speed was consequently quite low,
02:06around 35km an hour for the first hour as seven men got into the breakaway.
02:12Hugo Asnar of Kern Pharma, Javier Ibanez of Cajal Rural,
02:16Yumako Ishii and Masaaki Yamamoto from JCL Team Yukio,
02:21Andreas Miltiades and Kane Richards of Rujai Insurance,
02:25and Jens Reinders of Wagner Bazar.
02:28They didn't eke out much of a gap, though,
02:30just over a minute and a half clear of the peloton.
02:35Well, by this point, the riders had turned left
02:37and were heading north into the crosswinds,
02:39and there's always tension in the bunch in these wide open stages.
02:43A few men coming down at the back of the pack, but apparently no major damage done.
02:49Well, Reinders, meanwhile, had taken the virtual lead
02:51in the most active rider competition, picking up six points at the first two sprints.
02:56The Belgian now six points ahead of the overnight leader, Ayman Rosli.
03:00And Asnar, who was so impressive in yesterday's uphill finish,
03:04was the virtual race leader.
03:06The Spaniard finished in ninth place, 30 seconds down on Tom Pidcock.
03:10And speaking of the British rider, he was safely ensconced back in the peloton.
03:15However, with just over 70km to go,
03:17a couple of teams decided to test everybody's legs in the crosswinds
03:21and see if there was a possibility of splitting the race.
03:24Soudal Quick step up towards the front and they certainly caused a bit of panic.
03:28But ultimately, there wasn't quite enough wind to really blow things apart.
03:32And after a few kilometers, it all settled down again.
03:37Here comes the sprint.
03:41Renders now opens up the gas, goes to the left hand side.
03:44Big acceleration, drag race between these two sprinters.
03:48Three more points for Renders at this bonus sprint
03:51as he tightened his grip on the orange jersey.
03:54A nine point lead now over Rosli and job done for the Wagner Bazan rider.
04:00Well, the breakaway riders continuing to plug away,
04:02but it's never easy on these long straight roads
04:05and the peloton always had them in their sights.
04:09A couple of men eventually dropping back to the main bunch.
04:12First, it was Yamamoto
04:15and then the Cypriot champion Miltiadis.
04:19So five men leading the way into the final part of this stage.
04:23But the gap was always coming down.
04:25The peloton pulling to within 30 seconds as the sprint teams began to get organized
04:30and with 35 kilometers to go, Tudor Pro Cycling made their move.
04:35Now there's a big acceleration.
04:38Tudor Pro Cycling have decided, let's rumble this up a little bit.
04:43Well, this time the damage was done as the race shattered into several groups.
04:47Rafael Mica was one of the men to be caught out.
04:50The pole set to lose even more time after his stage one crash.
04:54And more importantly, for the GC battle, Eddie Dunbar was also left behind.
04:58The man who began the day fourth overall, 28 seconds down on Pidcock.
05:03It was a big blow this to Jaco Alula's hopes,
05:05although they did have third place Alan Hathaway up at the front.
05:09As far as the stage favorites were concerned,
05:12Tim Mollier and Dylan Groenewegen were both in the leading group as well,
05:15along with Fabio Jakobsen.
05:18In fact, his Picnic Postonelle team had another dig with 22K to go,
05:22really putting the hammer down.
05:24Arvid de Klein and Tudor were now right at the back of the bunch, but they held on.
05:28Plenty of contenders then for this final sprint.
05:34In the final 10 kilometers, the pace dropped slightly in the front group
05:37and it looked for a moment like the chasers might catch up again.
05:41But a few sporting directors obviously had a word on the radio
05:44and they sped up, hurtling their way into Tamer Forts.
05:47The Dunbar group would never make the catch,
05:50and it was over to Mollier and co for a reduced bunch sprint.
05:58The green jersey has got a problem.
06:01Well, no stress for Pidcock.
06:02His issue came in the last three kilometers,
06:04so he would be credited with the same time as the winner.
06:07300 meters from the line and Jacob Alula looking for Dylan Groenewegen.
06:16Where is Groenewegen?
06:17Oh, crash right hand side.
06:19Oh, a big crash.
06:21A rider hit one of the lampposts on the side and I hope he is OK,
06:25because that was an awful crash.
06:29Tim Mollier moves up.
06:32Sebastian Milano moves up on the right hand side.
06:36Here we come for this final left hander.
06:38I hope that rider is OK who hit the pole.
06:43Picnic rider hit the post
06:46and here goes Tim Mollier and Dylan Groenewegen.
06:49Big acceleration.
06:50Who is going to take this stage?
06:52Groenewegen is trying to get on the wheel.
06:55It's Mollier and Groenewegen, but it's two sprints out of two for Tim Mollier.
07:01Two sprints and two victories for Tim Mollier,
07:04who has shown that he is the fastest man at this Alula Tour.
07:07In the end, it was a mano a mano with Groenewegen
07:10and the European champion got there comfortably to notch his 52nd career win.
07:15He's on course to take home another red jersey.
07:18Well, the big battle was OK.
07:20We were still with a big bunch,
07:23so it was OK.
07:24It was not that really, really excellent.
07:28Legs were really turning well today.
07:31Feeling well also.
07:32Just in the final, it was a bit hectic.
07:35In the end, I won, so OK.
07:39Mollier winning ahead of Groenewegen with Milano,
07:41Muschietti and Barbier completing the top five.
07:44The first chase group lost around 20 seconds,
07:47with Dunbar shipping over a minute.
07:50Despite his late mechanical, Pidcock remains our race leader
07:53by eight seconds from Rainer Keplinger.
07:55Dunbar and Stefan de Bod drop out of the top ten
07:58after getting dropped in the crosswinds.
08:00Mollier reclaims the red jersey from Pidcock.
08:03He is now nine points clear of Milano, with Groenewegen in third.
08:07Odney Halter still leads the youth classification
08:10by four seconds from Frank van den Broeck.
08:13And Reinders now has a decent lead over Rossly
08:16in the most active rider competition.
08:18Join us again on Friday for the Queen stage of this Alula Tour
08:21to the sky views of Harata Wairid, and thanks for watching.