photo credits @ Tour of Oman
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) climbed to victory in stage 3 of the Tour of Oman today, after the French rider went mano-y-mano in a thrilling battle up Eastern Mountain with Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) that lasted all the way to the line.
Yates pulled alongside the Frenchman with 100 meters to go, yet despite looking poised for victory, in the end, Gaudu got the better of the defending champion along the 4.8-kilometer climb.
Meanwhile, Damien Howson (Q36.5) was third on the stage five seconds behind Gaudu, with Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) taking fourth.
As a result of the bonus points in today’s stage win, Gaudu moved into the overall lead, just six seconds ahead of Yates with two stages left to race.
“I’m very happy with this win because it’s my first this season and the first for the team. It was a very good day with the boys and I’m very proud of the work they did. They put it all on the table so I’m happy to finish the work, it’s incredible,” said Gaudu.
“I’ve never won a GC in my life as a professional so now we have tomorrow a flat stage for sprinters and after we have the last stage, maybe the queen stage up Green Mountain so we are already focussed on that to try to keep the jersey and maybe win a second stage.”
Race Highlights
Six men made an early move: Nicolas Vinokourov (XDS Astana), Rayan Boulahoite (TotalEnergies), Nur Amirull Mazuki (Terengganu), Andreas Miltiadis (Roojai Insurance) and the Omani national team members Said Al-Rahbi and Mohamed Al-Wahibi. The latter had joined the break in the two previous stages too, but a puncture at km 27 brought his third attempt in as many days to a premature end. Unable to re-establish contact with his erstwhile companions, he sat up and waited for the peloton.
Two squads take over the reins
The escapees spared no effort (44.5 km in the first hour), but the peloton was not willing to give them an inch more than strictly necessary, following Louis Vervaeke’s tour de force 24 hours earlier. It was precisely the team of the new overall leader, Soudal–Quick-Step, that set the pace in the bunch to keep the gap below three minutes after it peaked at 3′20″. UAE Team Emirates XRG soon arrived to lend a helping hand and defend the interests of Adam Yates, the reigning champion and hot favorite to take back-to-back titles.
Boulahoite and Vinokourov press on
Meanwhile, utter carnage unfolded in the breakaway, with Al-Rahbi, Miltiadis and Mazuki cracking at 118, 111 and 102 km to go, respectively, leaving Vinokourov Jr and Boulahoite alone at the front for the final 100 kilometers. Unperturbed, the two men kept going and went through the first intermediate sprint at Birkat Al Mouz (58 km to go) with a 2-minute advantage. Vinokourov took top points, while Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL) led the peloton across the line and picked up a bonus second.
Vinokourov in the lead at the foot of the final climb
The pack was in no hurry to shut down the breakaway, allowing the difference to grow back to three minutes. It was still 2′05″ by the time Vinokourov gapped Boulahoite 10 kilometers from the line. The 22-year-old from Kazakhstan took the second intermediate sprint at Al Hamra —where X grabbed third place and a bonus second— and started the final ascent to Eastern Mountain (4.8 km at 8.4%) with a 50-second buffer.
Gaudu gets the better of Yates
Vinokourov got caught 2.7 kilometers from the line, around the time that the red jersey, Vervaeke, got jettisoned from the main group after working at the front of the peloton. Groupama–FDJ took over from there. Clément Braz Afonso put in a mammoth shift to set up his leader David Gaudu for an attack under the red kite. Despite repeated attempts, the Breton was unable to open up a gap, with Adam Yates glued to his wheel. At long last, Gaudu managed to outgun the British rider in a fiercely contested sprint for the stage win, which also catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard. He followed in the slipstream of Matteo Jorgenson, the first victor at the top of this summit back in 2023.
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