On Wednesday the queen stage of the UAE Tour 2024 took place with a route of 176 kilometers that had a strong ascent to Jebel Jais, where the Australian Ben O’Connor, of the AG2R La Mondiale team, was crowned in a day where his compatriot Jay Vine became the new leader in the general classification.
The third fraction of this race took place after the previous day’s time trial in which UAE Emirates took the podium with Brandon McNulty as winner ahead of Vine and Denmark’s Mikkel Bjerg.
Wednesday’s course, which started on Al Marjan Island, was flat until the last 40 kilometers, where the second sprint prize of the day was the start of the climb in Wadi Shehah to Jebel Jais.
In the breakaway group was the Colombian Einer Rubio, who launched an attack with twelve kilometers to go to cross the finish line. However, it came down to a fight between O’Connor and Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre, with the former taking the win.
Ben O’Connor’s attack came with just over a kilometer to go with a teammate ahead. Great strategy from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. Behind the one trying to catch him was Jay Vine. Nobody could with him. The Australian ended up winning ahead of his compatriot Vine.
In the end O’Connor came in ahead of Vine and Lennert Van Eetvelt with five seconds ahead. Behind closed the top 10 always within 5 seconds Mx Poole, Ilan van Wilder, Attila Valter, Matthew Riccitello, Pello Bilbao, Einer Rubio and Simon Carr.
After Wednesday’s stage, Jay Vine became the new race leader with an eleven second lead over Ben O’Connor. The podium is completed by Brandon McNulty, who until yesterday was at the top of the general classification.
On the other hand, Adam Yates, one of the great favorites for the title, had to abandon the race due to a fall, which caused him a concussion.
The UAE Tour will return to flat terrain when the fourth stage takes place around Dubai.
Stage 3 | Al Marjan Island – Jebel Jais (176 km)
| 1 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 4:16:21 |
| 2 | Jay Vine | UAE Team Emirates | 0:05 |
| 3 | Lennert Van Eetvelt | Lotto Dstny | ,, |
| 4 | Max Poole | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | ,, |
| 5 | Ilan Van Wilder | Soudal – Quick Step | ,, |
Ranking General
| 1 | Jay Vine | UAE Team Emirates | 7:39:44 |
| 2 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 0:11 |
| 3 | Brandon McNulty | UAE Team Emirates | 0:13 |
| 4 | Ilan Van Wilder | Soudal – Quick Step | 0:21 |
| 5 | Pello Bilbao | Bahrain – Victorious | 0:22 |
Source: ciclismoaldia.es, antena2.com y Revista Mundo Ciclístico