Abu Dhabi: Colombia Esteban Chaves of Orica GreenEdge conquered the mighty Jabel Hafeet to clinch the gruelling 142km third stage of Abu Dhabi Tour on Saturday, but not without a little help of fate.

Immediately after crossing the line, the 25-yr-old was seen saying a little prayer and the celebration was also a muted affair as his 16 seconds’ edge going into the final stage on Sunday was courtesy a dramatic crash in the final curve.

The triumph had clearly landed on the lap of Chaves after Team Sky’s Wouter Poels’ push to the tape ended in an unfortunate fall at the last corner. Poels was surging to the finish amid the cheer of the fans after overtaking Chaves with a late attack but he couldn’t negotiate the sharp last corner and went down hard.

The Dutchman immediately got back on the bike but was unable to pedal and that allowed Astana Pro Team’s Fabio Aru to take second as the former stuttered to the finish for third by pushing his bike with one foot.

“It was a hard climb, but I did not raise my hands in celebration because the rider in front of me crashed and it would not have been correct to celebrate. I would like to send my commiserations to Wout Poels,” said Chaves, who just had two stage wins this season and now stands a chance of winning his maiden Tour.

It was another day and another stage but the pattern remained the same with Italian Alessandro Bazzana of UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling and Tunisian Rafaâ Chtioui of Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team again in the break. Both had attacked in the first two stages of the race as well and Bazzana, who leads the sprint classification by taking the first intermediate sprint after 79.1km at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium. The second intermediate sprint at Green Mubazzarah after 128.8km, however, belonged to Rafaa.

The duo even managed a lead of three minutes at one stage from the chasing pack but the general classification contenders caught them just into the final 11km climb. Bazzana was seen waving to the television camera to notify that his challenge was over and Rafaa kept pushing for another three more kms, before he was caught by Astana.

“It was a very hard climb, and even harder in the heat. The first part was hard, the final kilometres less so, but you needed to have the legs,” said Chaves, who was of the view that the soaring desert heat made the task all the more testing.

“The racing was hard, too. We are in the middle of the desert and the temperatures were unbelievable, so it was important to keep my body temperature down. The team was great. They worked hard for me all day, bringing me water and ice for my back and head. I poured 30 to 35 bottles of water on my body,” said the Red jersey winner, who need not do anything extravagant but just finish in the lead pack going into the final 110km fourth stage around the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit where floodlight would take centrestage.