photo credits @ Tour of Oman
Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) claimed the 6th and final stage of the Tour of Oman today, after beating Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) in a bunch sprint on the Matrah Corniche.
Meanwhile, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) secured overall victory after finishing safely in the peloton, with teammate Miguel Angel Lopez and Bahrain-Merida’s Gorka Izagirre joining him on the final podium alongside him.
It took 7 kilometers of racing for a small breakaway group containing Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors), Maxime Farazijn (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Pim Ligthart (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) and Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) to emerge.
From there, the escapees went on to establish a maximum advantage of just under five minutes over the peloton.
However, a vigilant chase under the auspices of Team Dimension Data and Vital Concept Cycling Club managed to reduce the breakaway group’s lead to under four minutes with 50 kilometers remaining.
The gap continued to fall from there, thanks to the help of Trek-Segafredo and Katusha-Alpecin, who succeeded in bringing the lead down to just over a minute as the race entered the final circuit on the Matrah Corniche – with three laps of 7.5 kilometers.
Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors) proved to be the strongest in the break, soloing away from his former companions and quickly opening up a lead of 45 seconds with 10 kilometers to go.
However, the French rider was ultimately reined in by the peloton during the final lap with just 3 kilometers remaining.
Timing proved perfect for Alexander Kristoff, as the Norwegian rider powered his way to victory in the sprint finale.
1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 3-11-29 2. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept Cycling Club 3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 4. Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana 5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 6. Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 7. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 8. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 9. Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 10. Floris Gerts (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij
1. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, in 22-49-50 22:49:50 2. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at 11 secs 3. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 28 secs 4. Jesus Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 30 secs 5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 32 secs 6. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-05 7. Daniel Navarro Garcia (Esp) Cofidis, at 1-14 8. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, at 1-24 9. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data, at 1-29 10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-37
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