Wout Poels struggles to the finish line after a last moment crash cost him the queen stage, race lead and very likely final overall win at the Abu Dhabi Tour.
Dutchman Wout Poels was robbed of what looked like a certain stage win and overall victory at the Abu Dhabi Tour when he crashed on the final corner while leading on Saturday.
The Team Sky man had only Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) for company when he lost it on a left hand turn just before the finish of stage 3 and went crashing to the ground.
He got up and remounted, dragging his broken bike over the line to claim 3rd place.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Poels, especially since he had ridden so well on what was the queen stage of the race.
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On the 11km climb of Jebel Hafeet to the summit finish, Poels was dropped by Chaves only to catch him inside the last kilometre.
That action unfolded after a select group formed and the split up on the way to the only mountain-top finish of the race, with a Chaves attack seeing him gain 20 seconds only for Poels to go after him.
When Poels caught Chaves he surged passed him - determined to round the tight final corner leading - on his way to victory.
But he would hit deck only for his Colombian rival to ride in for the win.
Unable to clip back into his pedals, Poels was forced to use his leg scooter-style to get over the line, by which time he had been passed by Vuelta winner Fabio Aru (Astana).
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Chaves not only took the stage win, but also the race lead with just a sprinters’ stage remaining on Sunday.
The unfortunate Dutchman was not able to benefit from the 3km rule because it does not apply on summit finishes; a factor that cost him not only the stage by also the leader’s jersey and almost certainly the race outright.
Chaves and Poels started the day equal on time - with most of the big favourites - just 10 seconds down on race leader this morning Elia Viviani.
It meant whichever of the big names was first to the top of the climb today would take the race lead with the stage win.
With the time he gained on Aru and Poels – and the time bonus for winning – Chaves now leads by 16 seconds from the Italian and 27 seconds from the most unlucky man of the day.
Poels comes unstuck
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