Ben O'Connor has been pipped agonisingly for victory by just two seconds while Jay Vine's hopes disintegrated as Australia's big week at the prestigious UAE Tour ended in anti-climax.
The two Aussies had begun the final day on Sunday in command at the week-long WorldTour event, with just 11 seconds separating leader Vine from second-placed O'Connor, but it all went wrong for the Aussie pair on the slopes of the Jebel Hafeet mountain as Belgian Lennert Van Eetvelt proved a shock winner.
While Vine, riding for the home UAE Team Emirates, suffered a miserable day, getting distanced at the bottom of the climb in such a sub-par performance that there were suspicions he wasn't well, it looked to have gifted a golden opportunity for O'Connor to earn the biggest GC win of his career.
