The 25-year-old Orica-GreenEDGE Colombian rider claims his first professional career general classification victory at the first edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour.
Elia Viviani (Team Sky) came first in the final stage after 20 high-speed laps of the five-kilometre circuit in Yas Marina, beating world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff Saxo) and Andrea Guardini (Astana).
The 110km final stage of the inaugural edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour was raced at twilight, giving the riders a relief from the scorching temperatures they faced during the first three stages.
The stage ended in the dark with huge lights illuminating the circuit. Racing on a closed circuit allowed for live on-board images to be produced and transmitted during the stage due to an agreement between race organisers RCS Sport and the Velon teams.
Chaves celebrated the victory with his Orica-GreenEDGE teammates. It’s his first ever stage race success and comes after his two stage victories at the Vuelta a Espana and fifth overall.
The 25-year-old Colombian set up his victory by winning the key mountain stage to Jebel Hafeet on Saturday. Chaves attacked five kilometres alone from the finish and distanced all his rivals.
Here is an overview of the four stages:
Stage 1 – Qasr Al Sarab › Madinat Zayed (175km) – It was the stage dedicated to the sprinters, won by Andrea Guardini (Astana). The stage had been reduced by 14.5km after the high temperatures (around 40 C°) made for a slow day of racing.
Stage 2 – Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina › Abu Dhabi, Marina Island (130k) – Again, a mass sprint, won by Elia Viviani
Stage 3 – Al Ain › Jebel Hafeet (140k) – The mountain stage, won by Chaves
Stage 4 – Yas Marina (110k) – The entire stage took place at night, under the floodlights of the Yas Marina Circuit, with cyclists doing 20 laps around the 5.5km circuit. Elia Viviani’s victory was not enough to achieve the title.
Only Wout Poels (Team Sky) was able to close the gap with a paced pursuit. Unfortunately, the Dutchman slipped out on the final corner after sprinting ahead to enter the corner first.
Chaves avoided hitting him and won alone, sportingly refusing to celebrate. Fabio Aru (Astana) also passed Poels to finish second, with the Dutchman finishing third after rushing to get back up.
Chaves won the Abu Dhabi Tour 2015 by 16 seconds ahead of the Italian with Poels third overall at 27 seconds. Jani Brajkovic (United Healthcare) finished an impressive fourth on the mountain stage and was fourth overall at 41 seconds.
The final stage again saw an early break go clear, with Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-QuickStep), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) and Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) surging away on the opening laps.
They opened a two-minute gap and fought for the three 6000 EUR sprint prizes awarded on laps 6, 11 and 16. However, Orica-GreenEDGE led the peloton and the chase for much of the stage, with Team Sky and Lampre-Merida also helping to ensure the stage ended in a sprint
Final General Classification:
- Johan Esteban Chaves (COL) Orica-GreenEDGE 13:13:55
- Fabio Aru (ITA) Astana Pro Team + 0:00:16
- Wouter Poels (NED) Team Sky + 0:00:27
- Janez Brajkovic (SLO) United Healthcare + 0:00:41
- Diego Ulissi (ITA) Lampre-Merida
- Gianluca Brambilla (ITA) Etixx-Quick Step + 0:01:23
- Alejandro Valverde (SPA) Movistar Team + 0:01:29
- Leopold Konig (CZE) Team Sky
- Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Astana Pro Team
- Patrick Conrad (AUT) Bora-Argon 18 + 0:01:40
After the prize-giving ceremony, Matt Bennett, winner of the #AbuDhabiTourContest on Instagram was also invited on the stage. The photo contest, which started 10 days before the tour, was opened to encourage all bike-lovers to come forward and share their cycling passion.
Matt was invited with his wife, Tiffany Barrett to enjoy the Abu Dhabi Tour Stage 4 finale with VIP hospitality.
See you at the next edition!
Blogger, marathon runner and triathlete, divemaster and heli rescue swimmer with Bergamo Scuba Angels. You can check my website www.dubaiblognetwork.com, contact me on social networks or via email at admin@dubaiblognetwork.com for information about this article or just to say hello.
Words by: Nico de Corato
Photos by: Nico de Corato and Linda Lazzari
