photo credits @ ToO
Soudal-Quick Step’s Paul Magnier and Luke Lamperti dominated the uphill finish in stage 3 of the Tour of Oman today, with the young French sprinter making the most of his mite to claim his second professional victory, while his American teammate finished second to claim the red leader jersey from Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates. The stage was initially set to head to Eastern Mountain, but was rerouted due to the exceptional weather conditions in the Sultanate of Oman.
“It’s unbelievable to take another win. The plan was to lead out Luke, but it turned out differently,” Magnier said.
“I went really deep on the climb, full gas until the finish, and it’s nice now to celebrate a victory with the team, something which we deserved after coming so close the last couple of days. We won’t stop here, as we are still motivated to go for some nice results before the end of the race.”
Lamperti has finished second in three races so far in 2024 and perhaps wanted his first professional victory. However, taking the race was some kind of consolation. He also tops the points and youth standings.
“We came here for a victory, and we are delighted we got it. Paul was very strong and he won today, I came second, and we are happy with the great job of the team,” Lamperti said, dismissing any thoughts of rivalry with Magnier.
“The two of us have a special connection, we came from the same devo team, and to be successful in the pro ranks immediately it’s nice. I am confident you will see us a lot in the future.
“I am happy to have the red jersey on my shoulders, it’s a beautiful feeling to lead a stage race. We’ll see what happens with things here and with the weather, but we are determined to do our best.”
On the day after Qurayyat’s storm, the sun warmed the riders as they got ready to start from Naseem Garden after the route of stage 3 was adapted to take into account the exceptional weather conditions in the Sultanate of Oman. Indeed, dark clouds are already looming on the horizon but they don’t deter attackers, who have a small window to get away from the bunch on a 76-km stage.
Four attackers lead the way
David Delgado (Burgos-BH), the Omani national champion Mohamed Al-Wahibi (Oman National Team) and Ariya Phounsavath (Roojai Insurance) set off at km 4. They were later joined at the front by Anton Palzer (Bora-Hansgrohe), while UAE Team Emirates set the pace in the bunch early in the stage.
The gap later reached 1 minute after 20 km of racing. But it never got higher than 1’10’’ with 50km to go, with Soudal Quick-Step joining UAE Team Emirates at the front of the peloton.
A young power duo rises
As the riders entered the second half of the stage, a slight rain fell upon the peloton, but the conditions ultimately remained favorable. Palzer later decided to attack with 27km remaining, quickly opening up a 20-second advantage over the chase with 20km to go. However, he was caught inside the final 15km.
From there, Munder Al-Hsani (Oman National Team) tried to upset the peloton with a daring attack inside the last 8km, opening up a slight gap of 18 seconds before being reined in with 4km to go.
Coming into the final kilometer, several teams began moving their sprinters into place, but when the road kicked up 500m to go, there was no containing Magnier and Lamperti, who stormed their way to victory, while Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) finished 3rd.
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