UAE team Emirates look to stage four after competing in Team Time Trial

UAE Team Emirates will be looking ahead to Stage four of the Tour de France, keen to regain time following today’s Team Time Trial (TTT). The Emirati formation – who suffered an early bout of bad luck as Oliviero Troia picked up a puncture just 9km into the race – finished 01:39 behind the eventual stage winners, BMC Racing Team, but remain positive for the coming days as Dan Martin and Alexander Kristoff look to climb up the General Classification (GC) standings.

Commenting on today’s result, Martin said: “We went in with a plan and it worked well. The only real negative was the fact that Troia, who was brought in to help us in the Team Time Trial got a puncture after 9km. That maybe cost us 15 or 20 seconds at the finish line. Other than that, we all rode out of our skin. I felt good and more of the same over the next days and we will see how far we can go. I’m taking it day by day and there are 18 days to go.”

It will be another warm day at the saddle tomorrow as riders get back to normal racing and tackle a 195km flat route from La Baule to Sarzeau. With just one category four climb on the route, a sprint finish is expected. However, the roads in the Breton region of France are tight and if riders encounter strong winds, we could be in for another drama-filled stage.

Stage Three Results

1 BMC Racing Team 38:46

2 Team Sky +00:04

3 Quick-Step Floors +00:07

15 UAE Team Emirates +01:39

General Classification Standings

1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) – BMC Racing Team 9:08:55

2 Teejay Van Garderen (USA) – BMC Racing Team “

3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) – Team Sky +00:03

38 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) – UAE Team Emirates +01:38

39 Dan Martin (Ire) – UAE Team Emirates +01:38