photo credits @ Team Sunweb
Team Sunweb’s Soren Kragh Andersen won stage 3 of the Tour of Oman today, after the Danish rider out-powered Rui Costa (Team UAE Abu Dhabi) and Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team) during a final uphill battle to the finish in Quriyat.
Andersen timed his sprint to perfection after covering a number of late attacks – to seize his first victory of the season.
Race Highlights
A small breakaway group containing Matthew Brammeier (Aqua Blue Sport), Chun Kai Feng (Bahrain Merida), Bert Van Lerberghe (Sport Vlaanderens – Ualoise), Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare), Kazushige Kuboki (Nippo – Vini Fantini), and Frantisek Sisr (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), got underway early on in today’s stage.
From there, the escapees went on to establish almost a four minute advantage over the peloton during the first 25 kilometers of racing.
At the summit of Bousher Al Amerat, Kuboki claimed the maximum number of climbing points.
However, a persistent headwind continued to hamper the breakaway group’s lead, eventually reducing their advantage to just a little over two minutes – with 50 kilometers of racing still remaining.
As the race reached the final climb of the day, the peloton eventually reined in the breakaway group during the last 15 kilometers.
With the field back together again, Julian Arredondo (Nippo – Vini Fvantini) initiated an attack, subsequently opening up a slight gap for the Colombian rider.
However, Arredondo soon faded, giving way to another attack by Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors).
But, the Belgian rider’s efforts were short-lived, as the race came back together once more for a final uphill finale, with Andersen emerging victorious.
Top 20 Finishers
1 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 3:53:11 2 Rui Costa (Por) Team UAE Abu Dhabi 3 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 4 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 5 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 6 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 8 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 9 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:04 10 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 11 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida 12 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 13 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 14 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 15 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:09 16 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:00:10 17 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 18 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect 19 Daniel Pearson (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport 20 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
General Classification after stage 3
1 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 11:00:15 2 Rui Costa (Por) Team UAE Abu Dhabi 0:00:02 3 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:10 4 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:18 5 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:21 6 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 7 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 8 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 9 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:25 10 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 11 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 12 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 13 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida 14 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:30 15 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:41 16 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:43 17 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect 18 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 19 Delio Fernandez (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:00:49 20 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:50
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