Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. - Vincent Van Gogh

---

Les Woodland's book Tour of Flanders: The Inside Story - The rocky roads of the Ronde van Vlaanderen is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current Racing:

• February 8 - 12: Tour of Oman

Upcoming racing:

• February 14 - 16: Tour de la Provence
• February 15: Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia
• February 16: Clásica de Almeria

Latest completed racing:

• February 5 - 9 Etoile de Bessèges/Tour du Gard
• February 5 - 9: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
• February 7: Muscat Classic
• February 1 & 2: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
• February 2: GP La Marseillaise
• January 29 - February 2: Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca
• January 28 - February 1: AlUla Tour
• January 30: Surf Coast Classic
• January 17 - 26: Tour Down Under
• January 26: Classica Comunitat a Valenciana 1969
• January 25: Ruta de la Cerámica - Gran Premio Castellón

---

Tour of Oman stage three reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner David Gaudu's Team Groupama-FDJ:

That’s it, the Groupama-FDJ cycling team scored its first victory of the season. On Monday, David Gaudu indeed dominated a very demanding uphill finish on stage 3 of the Tour of Oman. After a perfect teamwork until the last kilometre, the French climber got rid of his rivals one by one, before beating Adam Yates in the very last metres. Apart from getting his twelfth career win, he also took commands of the general classification, which will be decided on Wednesday on the “Green Mountain”.

David Gaudu can sit up and enjoy his victory.

“I have been thinking about it since yesterday evening”. David Gaudu definitely expected a lot from the first summit finish of the Tour of Oman this Monday. After the 180 kilometres on the day’s menu, the peloton was going to tackle the Eastern Mountain (4.7 km at 7.6%), whose last kilometre had an average slope of 12%. In theory, this was an ideal finish for the Breton, who first spent a very “calm” day surrounded by his teammates.

A four-man breakaway rode up front all day, and the last man standing, Nicolas Vinokurov, was even able to approach the final climb with a one-minute lead. After passing the first slopes, Groupama-FDJ took the lead and kept it until the very end. “The plan was to make it hard with the teammates who were still there, and we had almost everyone at the bottom of the climb,” explained Thierry Bricaud. “Everyone did their job at the right time to stifle what was left of the peloton.” “Since the first day, we’ve been racing really well,” David added. “Yesterday, we influenced the race with all our riders, but we were a bit unlucky. Today, Enzo protected us from the wind all day, then at the bottom, we showed that we were there. There is a competitive spirit in this group. We came here with the desire to do well and to get results. We didn’t even have to talk to each other in the final.”

The Groupama-FDJ’s train then set up naturally. “We had a strategy to launch David in several stages,” Clément Braz-Afonso said. “It was very tense approaching the climb, but we managed to stay more or less together and to regroup at the bottom. Lorenzo first took the lead with a very big turn that made the peloton stretch out for the first time. Tom then put in a huge turn as well, and it started to explode. I was the last level of the “rocket”, and I tried to launch David as best I could. I would have liked to take him a little further, but it was still enough”.

The peloton therefore reduced quite a lot before the hardest part of the slope, where David Gaudu had to take his responsibilities. Which he did. The Frenchman made a first attack one kilometre from the summit, a second one two hundred metres further up, before going for it again with 500 metres to go. “I had to try three times to manage to get away, but I think everyone was on the limit,” said David. “And if they were on the limit, it was precisely thanks to my teammates’ work.” The climber got rid of all his competitors, with the exception of Adam Yates, who remained a few metres behind.

The Briton even got back on his wheel just a hundred metres from the finish. “I was confident in my sprint,” David said. “I deliberately didn’t look behind, but I saw him come back because of his shadow. I told myself: when he opens the sprint, I open it as well, and it will come down to the legs, man against man! I knew I wouldn’t crack mentally. I had this lactic effort in mind since this morning. It’s something I’ve been able to work on this winter and I think that’s what made the difference in the final straight.”

Thanks to a final, sharp kick, David Gaudu took Yates off his wheel and flew towards his first win of the season, after a very intense effort. “It’s really nice, and I needed it,” said the Frenchman. “The first victory is sometimes the hardest to get. It’s great to finish it off after everything the guys showed throughout the day. It also opens the team’s counter, as we hadn’t won until now, even if the guys did well in Australia or in Bessèges. We were only missing victory to really get the season started.”

“It’s a great day for the team in Oman, but also for the team in general, and it rewards everyone’s winter work,” said Thierry. “David still has the momentum of his end of the 2024 season. He wants to do well, he does everything to make sure things go smooth, he’s putting in the effort he needs to, and so it’s no surprise to see him win today. It’s a fair reward for what he’s been doing for several months. He needs to make the most of this momentum.” “We’re all super happy that teamwork is paying off,” added Clément. “It’s the team’s first victory, and I hope it’s the first of many. For us domestiques, it’s incredible and extremely rewarding to have a leader who pulls it off like David did today.”

As the icing on the cake, the Breton took the lead overall on Monday, and is six seconds ahead of Adam Yates with two stages to go. “We now have a jersey to defend,” Thierry said. “We can reasonably think that there will be a sprint tomorrow. Logically, the fight for the general classification will be at the top of Green Mountain on Wednesday.” “We’ll need to secure the GC, and why not get a second stage victory,” David concluded with a smile.

Here's the Tour of Oman report from second-place Adam Yates' UAE Team Emirates:

Adam Yates showed a strong pair of climbing legs to take 2nd place on stage 3 of the Tour of Oman which finish on the hilltop of Eastern Mountain, in an entertaining duel with Frenchman David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) who took the spoils.

Gaudu took ten bonus seconds with the victory, moving into the overall lead of the race, just six seconds ahead of Yates with two stages left to race. The pair will likely go head-to-head again in a GC decider on the final day to Green Mountain.

The lumpy stage took the riders from Fanja to Eastern Mountain(180.8km), packing in 1838 metres of climbing, with the critical part coming in the final 5km as the steep ramp to the line saw the bunch splinter. Yates, surrounded by his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates Rafal Majka and Jay Vine stuck with the pace of Groupama-FDJ before Gaudu hit-out at -1km with only Yates able to follow. It looked like the veteran climber from Bury would cruise past the Frenchman at 100m to go but Gaudu found another gear to seal the win.

Yates gets his breath after the hard climb. I assume that's winner David Gaudu collapsed on the right.

Yates: “I’m actually really happy with today’s performance, like I said at the beginning of the week I’ve had an easier approach to the start of the season as I need to in top shape for a long time later in the year – so to be fighting for the win on an explosive final climb like this is a good sign that the training is working and my shape is coming. We have a sprint stage tomorrow so we’ll try to stay out of trouble, then we have one more chance on stage 5 to see if we can win the tour.”

The race continues tomorrow with a sprint stage from Oman Across Ages Museum to Oman Convention and Exhibition Center (181.5km).

Here's the Tour of Oman stage three report from third-place Damien Howson's Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team:

The breakaway never got much room as all the teams anticipated it would come down to the final climb to Eastern Mountain. That was also the strategy sports director Alex Sans Vega had for this important day. Eastern Mountain is an unknown climb in the Tour of Oman, but its 4.8 kilometers at an average gradient of 7.7%, with the final kilometer at a brutal 13%, tells the story.

The Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team stayed focused and made sure the team started the final climb at the front. There was a hard pace set but no attacks came until David Gaudu launched the decisive move at one kilometer from the line, followed by Adam Yates. Damien Howson gave everything to ride away from the group and to finish in third place at only five seconds behind, also taking valuable bonus seconds.

Damien Howson: “I am really happy with my performance. There were two very accomplished bike riders who beat me today so I can’t be unhappy with the result although I always set the bar high. It was a relief to be back at this level after having struggled with injury for quite a while last year. To be back competing for a podium is a real confidence boost. We can use this as a stepping stone going forward. There is Green Mountain to come which I did once before ten years ago in 2015, but I don’t remember much of it and sure wasn’t racing it. First, we get through tomorrow. I really feel the energy of the team and we really race well together.”

Damien Howson finsihes third. Photo: Sprint Cyling

Howson’s podium place follows after a really strong display by Xabier Mikel Azparren on Sunday. He bridged across the five-minute gap to the early breakaway together with Louis Vervaeke. The duo then left behind the original break. Xabier Mikel only had to let go of Vervaeke a few hundred meters before the top of the penultimate climb. The Belgian went on to win the stage.

“We got a good gap of almost eight minutes so that worried a couple of teams,” Xabier Mikel noted. “I knew it was difficult to stay at the front with that steep climb in the final. On the last climb, Vervaeke surprised me a bit. It is a shame, as I was so close to the win and then finished in the bunch, but I am happy with the good form. I did some good work in the winter. The year has only started but it feels like it can be a good year for me if I keep working.”

Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team now has three riders in the top 20 of the general classification with Howson, David de la Cruz and Matteo Badilatti all within a minute of the race lead. Tomorrow is one more chance for the sprinters. The Tour of Oman concludes on Wednesday with the stage to Green Mountain.

Here's the Tour of Oman report from fourth-place Valentin Paret-Peintre's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Valentin Paret-Peintre produced a superb effort on what arguably was the hardest summit finish since the start of the season – Eastern Mountain, a climb never before used at the Tour of Oman – and remained in contention for a good general classification in his first stage race with the team.

Soudal Quick-Step controlled the stage long before the GC favourites crossed swords on the gruelling slopes of this 4.6km ascent averaging 8.5%, protecting red jersey Louis Vervaeke, who was enjoying his first day as the leader of a race following his spectacular victory in Yitti Hills. The Wolfpack let the five riders in the lead build a three-minute gap, before ramping up the pace and cutting it to one minute inside the final twenty kilometers.

Showing the same self-sacrifice that has made him one of the best domestiques in the peloton, Louis then took over the pace-setting, and it was thanks to his hard work that the bunch caught the last member of the breakaway on the early slopes of this punishing ascent. The gradient began to bite in the final two kilometers, when a series of accelerations led to the group being reduced to just a handful of riders, including white jersey Valentin Paret-Peintre.

Valentin Paret-Peintre on the podium in his young rider's white jersey.

Runner-up on the previous stage, the Frenchman dug deep and managed to finish just outside the podium the stage won by countryman David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), a result that sees him lead both the points and youth classification with two days to go. In addition to this, Valentin sits fourth overall, just six seconds off the first three places.

Here's the third-stage report from sixth-place Cian Uijtdebroeks' Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

A strong performance by Cian Uijtdebroeks in the third stage of the Tour of Oman. The 21-year-old Belgian of Team Visma | Lease a Bike climbed up Eastern Mountain with the best and finished in sixth place. In the general classification, he moved up to seventh place.

In the third stage of the five-day stage race, the sting was in the tail. With the finish atop of Eastern Mountain, a five-kilometre climb with an average gradient of 7.6 per cent, the classification riders could test themselves seriously for the first time. Uijtdebroeks was accompanied on the climb for a long time by Steven Kruijswijk and youngster Pietro Mattio, who again proved his worth.

After his good performance in the second stage, Uijtdebroeks showed he had good legs today as well. The Belgian was among the strongest climbers and battled for victory for a long time. In the final kilometre, a new attack by David Gaudu proved too powerful for him. The Frenchman beat Adam Yates in a sprint-a-deux and Uijtdebroeks crossed the line 16 seconds later.

The day's challenging profile

"It's been a while since I had to reach the limit like that", Uijtdebroeks said. "The last few days were not so extreme, but today the finale was very punchy, too punchy for me. The guys did a fantastic job and dropped me off perfectly. Pietro went for a very long time on the climb. The legs were good. I tried to limit the damage as much as possible. All in all, I'm happy with this."

Uijtdebroeks is already looking forward to Wednesday's stage, in which Green Mountain will put the classification in a final fold. "That's a climb that normally suits me better. Other riders usually come out on top there and the differences will be bigger. Everything is still possible. I'm curious how the legs will be."

And here's the report from Team Picnic-PostNL:

After a day for the sprinters followed by one for the punchuers and opportunists on stage two, the climbers had their chance to shine today on the Eastern Mountain finish. A mostly flat parcours beforehand saw Team Picnic PostNL protect GC finishers Warren Barguil and Kevin Vermaerke throughout the day, as things geared up for the final climb. Progressing towards the finish, the gradients got steeper and the pace ramped up with both Barguil and Vermaerke fighting hard. Giving what they had to the line, Vermaerke led the team home on the stage for a solid result – especially considering he was involved in the crash on stage two – while Barguil followed home not far behind.

Speaking after the stage Vermaerke expressed: “Today was first mountain top finish here and it was a shorter and punchier one than we will have on Green Mountain on stage five, but it was the first test for Warren and I in the GC. The guys took really good care of us all day I have to say. On the final climb I just didn’t quite have it to do what I needed to so I’m pretty disappointed with that. Tomorrow we’ll go for it in the sprint with Pavel and we have another nice chance there. Hopefully I’ll feel a bit better from the crash yesterday on Green Mountain and I can recover a bit, so we can try and get a result there and move into the top ten on GC.”

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary