Tour of Oman 2017 Stage 1

photo credits @ Tour of Oman

A year after finishing first at Naseem Park, there was no stopping Alexander Kristoff from winning today’s opening stage of the Tour of Oman.

In an expected bunched sprint finish, the Norwegian rider beat Italians Kristian Sbaragli and Sonny Colbrelli on the line to capture his fifth stage victory at the Tour of Oman.

The Katusha squad had worked hard to control the five escapees of the day, before delivering Kristoff to victory during the final run-in to the finish.

Race Highlights

The sun came out just in time for the start of today’s stage, as 143 riders gathered at start near Sawadi Beach to contest the 176.5 kilometer loop that ran along the coast and finishing at Naseem Park – just west of Muscate.

After only three kilometers of racing, a small group of five riders containing  Warbasse, De Gendt, Marangoni, Fonzi and Masson, managed to escape.

From there, the escapees went on to establish a 3:30 advantage over the peloton after 20 kilometers of racing.

The first intermediate sprint was claimed by De Gendt ahead of Fonzi and Warbasse, while the group was still holding onto a two and a half minute lead over the chase.

The second bonus sprint was again won by De Gendt ahead of Fonzi, while the peloton had managed to reduce their gap by a minute.

Not long after, both De Gendt and Fonzi decided to return to the peloton, leaving their fellow breakaway companions to forge on alone during the final 25 kilometers. 

As the peloton began closing in on the leaders, a crash occurred sending several riders to the ground including Guillaume Martin. Thankfully no one was hurt, with each rider eventually returning back to the peloton.

With 10 kilometers to go, the lead trio were clinging to just a 10 second lead, only to be caught a short time later.

Meanwhile, all of the teams back in the peloton were busy ushering their respective sprinters into place.

In the midst of this, Sonny Colbrelli suffered a puncture., causing the Italian rider and his Bahrain-Merida teammates to work hard to make their way back into the peloton to contest the final sprint.

Drama unfolded during the final run-an to the finish, where Tom Boonen went down in anthem crash, but thankfully the Belgian rider was not seriously hurt.

In similar fashion to a year ago, Kristoff emerged victorious amongst a hotly contested sprint finale, to earn the Norwegian rider the first red leader’s jersey in their year’s Tour of Oman. 

Kristoff now holds a four second advantage over Sbaragli, followed by a 6 second lead over Colbrelli.

Kristoff also managed to claims the points classification leadership as well.

.@Kristoff87 wins again in Naseem Park #TOO2017 @katushacycling pic.twitter.com/KWhNHCtGkU

— Tour of Oman (@tourofoman) February 14, 2017

Stage 1 Results
NOR 1 KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA ALPECIN) 3:46:29
ITA 2 SBARAGLI, Kristian (DIMENSION DATA)
ITA 3 COLBRELLI, Sonny (BAHRAIN – MERIDA)
DEN 4 HANSEN, Lasse Norman (AQUA BLUE SPORT)
ARG 5 HAEDO, Lucas Sebastian (UNITEDHEALTHCARE)
ITA 6 MARECZKO, Jakub (WILIER TRIESTINA)
BEL 7 JANS, Roy (WB VERANCLASSIC AQUALITY PROTECT)
FRA 8 GIRAUD, Benjamin (DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM)
ITA 9 MODOLO, Sacha (UAE ABU DHABI)
ITA 10 BELLETTI, Manuel (WILIER TRIESTINA)

General Classification after Stage 1
NOR 1 KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA ALPECIN) 3:46:19
ITA 2 SBARAGLI, Kristian (DIMENSION DATA) + 4
BEL 3 DE GENDT, Aime (SPORT VLAANDEREN – BALOISE)
ITA 4 COLBRELLI, Sonny (BAHRAIN – MERIDA) + 6
ITA 5 FONZI, Giuseppe (WILIER TRIESTINA)
USA 6 WARBASSE, Lawrence (AQUA BLUE SPORT) + 9
ITA 7 MARANGONI, Alan (NIPPO – VINI FANTINI)
DEN 8 HANSEN, Lasse Norman (AQUA BLUE SPORT) + 10
ARG 9 HAEDO, Lucas Sebastian (UNITEDHEALTHCARE)
ITA 10 MARECZKO, Jakub (WILIER TRIESTINA)