Eduard Prades suffered a disaster at the end of today's stage 1 at the International Tour of Hellas in Greece, which ended in a crash for the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA rider.
The 34-year-old arrived at the finish in a group and sprinted for the line after 190km into Chania. He thought he had won the stage so celebrated with the traditional two-armed salute.
However, as he was celebrating his saddle fell off, sending him crashing to the ground as he crossed the line. His unfortunate experience was then compounded when he realised he hadn't won the stage after all.
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"When we caught the chase group, I thought I was fighting for the victory and I gave it my all in the sprint. I thought I was the winner," Prades said.
Kiwi rider Aaron Gate (Bolton Equities Black Spoke Pro Cycling) was up the road on his own and won the stage. He was clear in a four-man breakaway for most of the day before pushing on alone with about 25km to go. Gate crossed the line 1:46 clear of the small chasing group, from which Prades won the sprint for 2nd place, with Filippo Baroncini (Trek-Segafredo) in 3rd.
