Tour of Oman 2018 Stage 5

photo credits @ Tour of Oman

Astana’s Miguel Ángel López took the honors in stage five of the Tour of Oman in Jebel Akhdar today.

The Columbian rider finished ahead of his teammate Alexey Lutsenko, after being brilliantly lead by his team along the summit finish of today’s Queen Stage.

Meanwhile, Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) rounded out the podium in third place. 

Race Highlights

After a few skirmishes early on in the stage, six riders eventually emerged from the peloton to establish the day’s first breakaway group. 

From there, Marco Marcato (UAE Emirates), Pom Ligthart (Roompot-Nederlandse Lotterij), Benjamin Declercq (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Nicholas Schultz (Caja Rural) and the Rally Cycling duo of Robin Carpenter and Adam de Bos proceeded to open up an advantage of more than five minutes over the peloton.

However, as the race entered the final 15 kilometers, the group’s advantage began to dwindle, as a vigilant peloton had reduced their lead to less than half.

As the escapees reached the foot-slopes of the Green Mountain, their advantage had fallen to just under a minute and a half, while the peloton continued to close in on them. 

With less than 3 kilometers to go, Carpenter and Marcato were the last of the breakaway group to get caught by the peloton, with the American rider holding out the longest.

As the road curved upwards, the three Astana riders slowly pulled away from Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), while BMC’s Nicolas Roche tried to move up and chase.

With one kilometer to go, Lutsenko and Lopez were together in the lead, with Izagirre 10 seconds back and Herrada chasing.

The two Astana riders stayed together around the final curve and were able to share the honors at the finish line. Lopez took the stage and strengthened his lead in the best young rider competition, while Lutsenko took the overall race lead.

Tour of Oman 2018 Stage 5
1. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, in 3-43-58
2. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, at same time
3. Jesús Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 12 secs
4. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 15 secs
5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Kausha-Alpecin, at 22 secs
6. Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo, at 25 secs
7. Daniel Pearson (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport, at 33 secs
8. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors, at 43 secs
9. Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing, at 47 secs
10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 49 secs

General classification After Stage 5
1. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, in 19-38-21
2. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 11 secs
3. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 28 secs
4. Jesús Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 30 secs
5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Kausha-Alpecin, at 32 secs
6. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-05
7. Daniel Navarro (Esp) Cofidis, at 1-14
8. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe-Gobert, at 1-24
9. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data, 1-29
10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-37