Jake Latham
Esteban Chaves of Colombia brings home a General Classification win for the Australian team Orica – GreenEdge at the Abu Dhabi Tour.
After a fearsome climb on the third stage, Chaves paved the way to his first overall professional stage race win.
The Abu Dhabi tour is a four-stage, 555km race that brings a close to the 2015 season. It includes three flat stages for the sprinters and one mountain stage before heading into the Yas Marina Formula One racing circuit for a 110kms around the flat but winding race course.
The first stage was shortened by almost 15kms as the heat made it a very testing day.
Stage 2 was cooler and the stage was won by Elia Viviani of Team Sky.
Stage 3 was the only mountain stage and saw Vincenzo Nibali make a break with 5.6km to go till the summit. Without having the legs to finish, Nibali was left behind after his team mate Fabio Aru chased down Wout Poels (Team Sky) and Chaves.
On the last corner, Poels came through with too much speed and washed his wheels out from underneath him, ending his lead on the climb after Chaves over took him.
Chaves took the win on stage 3 and finished neatly in the pack on stage 4 of the race to take out the overall General Classification win.
Chaves had very few words to say but he said, “To win the first Abu Dhabi Tour is beautiful. It is the first edition of the race, and my first GC too,” he said. “I’m happy for the team, and the team is very happy for me.”
