photo credits Tour of Oman
Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease A Bike) racked up another stage win in this year’s Tour of Oman, after the Dutch rider claimed today’s stage 4, beating Giacomo Nizzolo (Q36.5) to the finish line on stage 4 at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Center.
Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) was the first rider to launch his sprint along the final uphill drag to the finish line, but it was Kooij who was in prime position on the Norwegian rider’s wheel, launching his winning move during the closing 200 meters to overtake his rival.
Meanwhile, Nizzolo and Orluis Aular (Movistar) rounded out the podium ahead of Blikra, with Max Kanter (XDS Astana) taking fifth place.
“It was good for me. We could control the finish with the team, and they helped me very well,” Kooij said after the stage.
“After coming from the winter in Europe, it takes some time to get used to [racing], but the feelings are good.”
“We knew the last kilometer would be important to get in a good position. I could then follow the right wheels to start my sprint at exactly the right moment.”
Race Highlights
Kongphob Thimachai (Roojai Insurance), Abdulrehman Al Yaaqubi (Omani national team) and Muhammad Mohd Shabri (Terengganu) wasted no time jumping clear, later opening up a peak advantage peaked at 9′15″ after 53 kilometers of racing.
Lightning-fast reflexes save Mohd Shabri
The average speed was 39 km/h at the halfway point. Al Yaaqubi sat up with 90 kilometers to go, leaving just two riders out front. 7 kilometers later, as the road twisted through a maze of ochre mountains, Mohd Shabri suffered a puncture, only narrowly avoiding a crash thanks to his impressive bike-handling skills. Thimachai waited for his fellow escapee to continue the adventure as a duo, while the peloton slashed its deficit to two minutes thanks to Visma–Lease a Bike’s efforts to position the big favorite, Olav Kooij, for a repeat win after stage 1.
Svestad-Bårdseng snags a second
The gap edged back out to 2′40″ at the second intermediate sprint in Ad Dasur (64 km to go), where Mohd Shabri took the top spot, just as he had done earlier in Al Alya (118 km to go). Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (Arkéa–B&B Hotels), eleventh overall, won the sprint for third from the peloton, scooping up a bonus second that brought the Norwegian within 38 seconds behind the race leader, David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ), and 4 seconds from the top 8.
Kooij claims the bunch sprint
Thimachai went for broke from 50 kilometers out. Mohd Shabri, caught unawares after his companion attacked from behind, did not even attempt to follow him. The peloton gobbled up the Thai rider with 13 kilometers to go, setting up the expected sprint. Olav Kooij turned on the gas on the false flat in the final kilometer to clinch his second stage win in this edition of the Tour of Oman.
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