photo credits @ Tour of Oman
Olav Kooij claimed the opening stage of today’s Tour of Oman, a hotly contested sprint that saw the Dutch rider get the better of Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL) and Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) after launching from the wheel of Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) during the final 300 meters.
“We really wanted to go for the stage, and we took control,” Kooij said immediately after the race finish. “So yeah, thanks to the boys for making it in the sprint in the first place.
“They gave me a really good run into the last 500 meters. And then yeah, I found a good wheel and could launch my sprint,” he added.
Race Highlights
A 120-strong peloton started the fourteenth Tour of Oman, with Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma–Lease a Bike) and Harm Vanhoucke (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) on the DNS list. The flag went down at 11:42 am under the harsh sun shining on Bushar, on the outskirts of Muscat. Race number 1 Adam Yates and his UAE Team Emirates XRG outfit showed their determination to defend the title, with one of their riders jumping out of the peloton from the get-go. It was all for naught, however, as a different five-man group opened up a gap in the first kilometer.
Álvarez and Al-Wahibi divvy up the points
Mohammed Al-Wahibi and Said Al-Rahbi, competing for the Omani national team, hit the front with Rodrigo Álvarez (Burgos Burpellet BH), Kane Richards (Roojai Insurance) and Mohamad Mohd Zariff (Terengganu), who had already featured in the early breakaway of the Muscat Classic yesterday. Their margin quickly grew to three minutes by the time the peloton got to grips with Jabal Road (3.5 km at 9.2%), the only categorized climb of the day, with 167 kilometers to go. Zariff and Al-Rahbi were dropped a kilometer from the top, leaving Al-Wahibi, Richards and Álvarez to crown the ascent in this same order. The Spaniard got his own back 13 kilometers down the road by taking the first intermediate sprint at Al Amerat.
Kooij hoists the colors
Zariff and Al-Rahbi managed to get back to the front 151 kilometers from the line, with the peloton five minutes back at that point. Rising tensions or, perhaps, the light breeze sweeping through the valley spurred the peloton into action, cutting the gap to 3′35″ with 140 kilometers to go. It was all hands on deck for Kooij’s Visma–Lease a Bike squad. The Dutch sprinter relished his status as the hot favorite to win a bunch sprint. Even so, the difference stabilized for a short while, as if the riders were taking the time to admire the landscape replete with what looked like giant molehills, with dark or reddish rocks crisscrossed by striations pointing towards the sky.
A game of cat and mouse
Zariff gave up with 126 kilometers to go, first sinking back into the peloton and then abandoning the race altogether. Kooij’s men brought the deficit below the two-minute mark 100 kilometers from the line, only to ease up for a bit and keep the escapees dangling in front for a bit longer. The gap rose to 3′35″ and then fell back to 1′10″ as the peloton got its first glimpse of the finish line. It was a desert mirage, though: there were still 41 kilometers left, half of which would take place on a wide road before doubling back and finally setting course for the finish at Bimmah Sink Hole on a charming coastal road.
Gaudu bags a bonus second and Kooij storms to victory
The rock star of the breakaway, Kane Richards, stepped up the pace with 37 kilometers to go, leaving everyone but Álvarez in the dust. The Australian and the Spaniard fought gallantly, but they were reeled in with 25 kilometers to go, shortly after Richards took the intermediate sprint. The Groupama–FDJ train propelled David Gaudu to third place, which came with a one-second time bonus. From there on, it was gruppo compatto all the way to the finish, with Kooij prevailing in the mad dash to the line to clinch the stage win and seize the first leader’s jersey of the fourteenth Tour of Oman.
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