Place Name: الشافعي
Address: 7307 الشافعي, Tayma, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
Details: January 30, 2025
A long day in the saddle at 180KM sends the riders away from the World Heritage site at Hegra through the desert for a likely bunch sprint in Tayma Fort.
The start was pushed forward to account for a tough head wind throughout the first half of the stage. Hugo Aznar of Equipo Kern Pharma, Javier Ibañez of Caja-Rural Seguros RGA, Yuma Koishi and Masaki Yamamoto of JCL Team UKYO, Andreas Miltiadis and Kane Richards of Roojai Insurance, and Jens Reynders of Wagner-Bazin WB made the break but their lead was just 90 seconds with 80KM to go. UAE-XRG tried to put the race in the gutter with 72KM to go but the wind was only blowing about 15KM/HR and their effort came to nothing.
Tudor Pro Cycling were more effective at splitting the bunch. With 36KM to go, they hit the front and reduced the group down to between 50 and 60 riders. Alexander Kristoff of Uno-X Mobility punctured while Eddy Dunbar of Jayco AlUla who sat in fourth place in GC missed the split. It was difficult to get a read on who else was missing given the speed of the bunch and chaotic forward and backward movement of the riders.
The group settled down from 20KM out until the sprint trains started with just over 5KM to race. Jayco AlUla led the bunch through 1KM to go. Bert Van Lerberghe of Soudal Quickstep brought Tim Merlier to the front in time to take the final corner first. Van Lerberghe led through, then Merlier started his sprint into clean air. Dylan Groenewegen of Jayco AlUla was on Merlier's wheel but he could not come around. It was Merlier's second win of the week and he looked even more dominant than in Stage 1. Groenewegen came home for second then there was a big gap to Juan Sebastián Molano of UAE-XRG in third.
Tags: AlUla Tour, 2025, January, Stage 3, AlUla Tour 2025, Hegra, Tayma Fort, Hugo Aznar, Javier Ibañez, Yuma Koishi, Masaki Yamamoto, Andreas Miltiadis, Kane Richards, Jens Reynders, Bert Van Lerberghe, Tim Merlier, Dylan Groenewegen, Juan Sebastián Molano