Ineos Grenadiers and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were among the teams worst affected after a double crash in the final five kilometres on stage 5 of the UAE Tour saw both of their GC leaders go down and lose time.
Both Carlos Rodríguez for the British team and Felix Gall for Decathlon AG2R hit the deck at high speed with 3.5km to go on the approach to Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, with several of their teammates also crashing.
With 500 metres to go until the crucial 3km rule kicked in, where any crash or incident sees you receive the same time as the winner on a sprint stage, they then lost significant time on GC.
The Spanish rider lost 58 seconds in the frantic chase for home, with a big rip on the back of his shorts and lots of road rash. Gall lost the same amount after solid work from two of his teammates to dampen the blow, however, the pair dropped from 11th and 13th overall to 20th and 21st on GC, respectively, now more than 1:40 behind leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
Ineos Grenadiers were all hands on deck at their team van after the finish, with Victor Langellotti and Ben Swift sustaining much more serious injuries than Rodríguez, who was in decent spirits considering.
"Three Ineos Grenadiers were involved in a crash at the end of stage five at the UAE Tour," read a post from the team. "All three riders were able to remount and finish the stage. Rodríguez sustained cuts and grazes, while Swift and Langellotti have been taken for further checks. Update to follow."
Gall's young teammate and 18-year-old super talent Paul Seixas lost more time than his leader, also hitting the desk before they reached the vital 3km to go mark. After a solid opening four days in his first WorldTour race, Seixas dropped out of the top 15 and into 22nd.
"A fast and nervous 5th stage today at the UAE Tour was marked by late crashes. Seixas, Felix Gall and Gianluca Pollefliet went down 3.5 km from the finish," said the team on X.
"Felix loses 58" and Paul 2'22" in the GC, but the race is still on! The team remains focused for the rest of the race. Medical update to come."
The highest-placed GC rider to be affected was Movistar's Pablo Castrillo, who went down in the same incident 3.5km from the finish after a touch of wheels rippled back through the bunch and caused the first crash.
An update from Movistar confirmed that no fractures were sustained after Castrillo's tumble, however, he did drop from the virtual podium places in third down to 13th after similarly losing just under a minute.
Other GC riders like Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) told Cyclingnews the "last corner was definitely not super safe but it can always happen, these sprint stages are always super hectic and I'm just super glad I stayed safe."
While race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) managed to avoid any drama after spending over 100km in the day's break, the World Champion hinted that perhaps the 5km rule, which was used at the Tour de France last year, could make days like today less hectic.
"It's always scary in the final 3km. When I experienced the five-kilometre rule I felt much safer and more comfortable, but the three-kilometre rule is always so close to finish," said Pogačar in his press conference.
"Everybody is so focused and nervous, especially here so big speeds, big roads coming to the corner, everything gets squeezed, and you need to find your own way how to stay safe.
"I have good teammates around me, they take care of this and try to create a bubble around me in a safe position. After all, the sprinters, yeah, maybe you need some sometimes to push a bit more, but just to stay safe always."
Sprinters come undone in second crash on final corner
As the high-speed finale raged on in front, another crash had its say on how the fifth stage played out, this time in the final kilometre of the race. The sweeping right-hand bend that led onto the home straight saw several riders go down once again.
Many riders hoping to contest the final sprint with eventual winner Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) were involved, notably Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla).
Philipsen escaped with "just a few scrapes" while Gaviria was seen clutching at his left arm after going down. Movistar confirmed there were no fractures for the Colombian, however his progress will be checked.
Groenewegen similarly managed to finish the stage but a social media post from Jayco AlUla stated that the Dutch champion "will continue to be monitored overnight" before a decision is made on his continuation tomorrow morning.
Sprint stages in the UAE are known for being hectic, with the wide highways and quality of sprint trains present giving rise to an all-out battle for position at rapid speeds. Today was no different, with some teams stating that crashes like today's can just be a by-product of the racing.
"It's a little bit better with the corners because it just strings things out a little bit more but it's always like this in the UAE," XDS Astana DS Mark Renshaw told Cyclingnews at the finish.
"It hasn't changed in 10 to 15 years and it's not going to because without wind you don't have a difficult stage and everyone has fresh legs with a lot on the line."
While Astana had a great day and finished second with Matteo Malucelli just behind Merlier and ahead of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), they too suffered some misfortune in the duo of crashes.
"In the first crash 3 to 4km from the finish, we lost Aaron Gate, who normally would have been positioning Malucelli," continued the former lead-out specialist.
"So he's quite wounded on his hip. I think he'll be alright tomorrow to race but when you crash at that speed, it always hurts."
Tomorrow morning will see all the effects of the two crashes come out in the wash before another day of rapid and chaotic sprinting is taken on from the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club to Abu Dhabi Breakwater.
