Watch: Riders battle for top honours on Abu Dhabi Tour's climbing stage (video)

Video highlights from the climbing stage of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour

Nairo Quintana finishes stage three of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour.

(Image credit: Yuzuru Sunada)

Though some of the biggest names in Grand Tour racing may have failed to ignite the 'queen' climbing stage of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour in the Middle East on Saturday, there was a worthy winner.

Former world champion Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) attacked early on the final 11km climb of Jebel Hafeet to ultimately clinch the stage win and overall race lead.

Portuguese rider Costa was joined by Russian climber Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) as they distanced the likes of Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) and Fabio Aru (Astana).

>>> Grand Tour stars fail to ignite Abu Dhabi Tour: ‘it was a stand off’

The lead pair worked well together, with Costa edging ahead of Zakarin among the craggy rocks of the desert mountain.

Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) had put in a concerted chase to try and catch the leaders, but had to settle for third place.

The 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour concludes on Sunday with a stage that looks likely to finish in a bunch sprint. Barring disaster, Costa should finish in the peloton to take the overall victory.

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Nigel Wynn
Former Associate Editor

Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.