Wout Poels was full of hope as he started the third stage of the UAE Tour, but in the scorching heat at Jebel Hafeet, his dreams of an overall top finish faded, and Poels, the Bahrain McLaren leader, was unable to hold off stage winner and race leader Adam Yates ( Mitchelton-Scott) by nearly four minutes.

Poels was one of the first casualties as the race approached the 10km climb, dropping out with 7.3km to go. He fell off the bike with 7.3km to go. He rode at his own pace until the summit, but did not reach his expectations.

He went into the UAE Tour after an impressive 6th place finish in Valenciana earlier this month and was brutally honest about his performance in the Middle East.

"It was pretty bad. On the climbs, I immediately went full throttle on the gas, but I didn't have the legs. That's it. Maybe it was the heat, but today was not my day," he told Cycling News.

The race returns to the same climb on Thursday with stage 5. If Poels can recover and regain some form, he may be given freedom from the front of the pack.

"I felt pretty good going into the race, but maybe I can try again in a few days," he said before riding off to the showers.

Outside the Bahrain McLaren team bus, Rod Ellingworth commiserated with the team leader.

"It's unfortunate for Wout. He has trained for this," Ellingworth told Cycling News.

"He's probably more disappointed than anyone. He knows how to ride this climb. He knows how to ride this climb. But as far as form, he was pretty good. This time it didn't work out.

Now that the GC chances are almost gone, the team will focus on stage wins. With Mark Cavendish, the team is looking at a sprint stage, and climbers will be released on Thursday at Jebel Hafeet.

Cavendish will be looking for his first win with Bahrain McLaren.

"We'll see later what the score is, what happened. There are days like that," Ellingsworth said. I hope we get to see Cav play. He's a good player. I think he's still trying to make small breakthroughs. Nothing has changed and we are still rooting for him and supporting him."