Astana's Jan Hirt finished in Top 10 at first mountain stage, UAE Tour, Stage 3

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The third stage of the United Arab Emirates Tour finished today at Jebel Hafeet Mountain after a 179 km of racing. Starting on the territory of the oldest UAE University, teams rode along a mostly flat route, which ended with a difficult climb finish to the 1st category mountain with an average gradient of 7.4% and a length of 9.5 km.

The rider of Kazakh team Jan Hirt finished today in Top 10, 35 seconds after the stage winner current world champion Alejandro Valverde, Astana Pro Team's official website reads.

"Before this race I was one month in Columbia at the altitude, so I'm in a quit good shape, also team worked well today. Maybe Top10 is not the best result, but I tried myself, as I feel in a good condition now. We will see, if there is another mountain finish and I will have better legs and a chance, I will try also, but let's see, it is still far away," said Jan Hirt after the finish.

"The stage was quite classical, without any surprises. The wind did not make any adjustments, so there was no special strategy or tactical actions. Everything was solved in the last climb, and we tried to show the maximum result. Today Yan tried himself, and managed to finish in top ten. Let's see day by day, we will try to fight for the stage here," commented the sports director Dmitriy Sedoun.