Prades crashes after celebrating second place at Tour of Hellas
Prades crashes after celebrating second place at Tour of Hellas
Eduard Prades (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) may have delivered a respectable runner-up ride on Wednesday’s opening stage of the International Tour of Hellas, but all things considered, the Spaniard probably didn’t enjoy the final few moments of his afternoon racing in Greece.
At the end of a lumpy stage from Heraklion to Chania, 31-year-old New Zealander Aaron Gate held on out front to take a solo victory. Nearly two minutes later, Prades led a group over the finish line with his arms raised, presumably celebrating what he thought was a stage victory, when he had actually only been sprinting for second.
What would have already been a rough enough moment turned worse when Prades’s saddle fell off his bike as he was posting up.
The Spanish veteran, who counts some fine results on his career palmares including a WorldTour GC win at the 2018 Tour of Turkey, hit the deck just after the line. Fortunately, he seemed to be OK after crashing.
At the end of the day, Prades did manage to deliver a solid second-place finish in Greece, and will start Thursday’s stage 2 in second overall on GC. Just the same, he’s probably wishing the last few moments of the stage had gone a little bit differently.
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