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Thursday, February 13, 2025

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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 8 - 12: Tour of Oman
• 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

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Tour of Oman stage five reports

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

Here's the report from stage winner Valentin Paret-Peintre's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Valentin Paret-Peintre produced a sumptuous performance on the final day of the race, emerging as the strongest rider of the peloton on the gruelling double-digit gradients of the Jabal Al Akhdhar climb to take the victory at the top and move onto the overall podium for a memorable debut in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey.

Velentin Paret-Peintre beats GC winner Adam Yates to the line. Photo: Getty Sport

Before the final showdown, Pepijn Reinderink and Mauri Vansevenant animated the stage as part of a large breakaway group, the latter being the last rider to be brought back by the bunch. As soon as the Green Mountain started, Valentin – leader in the youth classification ahead of the day – climbed with ease at all times on the draining 5.7km ascent averaging 10.5% that strung out the peloton, and with two kilometers to go he found himself part of a select group featuring the first two riders on the GC and decided to punch clear. A small gap opened, but the others came back and the trio was getting ready for the final kilometer showdown.

Soon after, the red jersey wearer was dropped, leaving only Paret-Peintre and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) in the lead. Soudal Quick-Step’s rider matched the tempo of his opponent and waited for the last 150 meters to get out of the saddle and launch a powerful acceleration that saw him distance the Brit and capture his maiden win as a member of the Wolfpack and our team’s fifth since the start of the season.

“Winning atop of this climb, where some big riders won in the past, means a lot to me. I had a lot of confidence going into the stage and knew that I could be in the mix for victory. I also tried to go for the GC win, but that turned out to be difficult, so instead I decided to wait for the final meters to go full gas. I’m happy that I could win against some really good climbers”, said Valentin, who finished runner-up on the GC after Tuesday’s remarkable ride.

Taking home the green and white jerseys, rewarding the points and youth classification winner, rounded out Paret-Peintre’s excellent week in Oman: “We can be proud of what we achieved here. At the same time, it’s important for me to have such a good start with the team. I knew it was possible to get a good result this week and I’m glad I could show the team they can put their trust in me. I’m leaving Oman with a great feeling and with the desire of fighting for more wins in the near future.”

Here's the Tour of Oman stage five report from GC winner Adam Yates' UAE Team Emirates:

After an entertaining battle with French duo David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), UAE Team Emirates-XRG‘s Adam Yates finished second on the fifth and final stage of the Tour of Oman atop Jabal Al Akhdhar (Green Mountain). With the result, Yates moved into the leader’s jersey and successfully retained his Tour of Oman title.

Winning the general classification was always at the top of Yates’ early season wishlist, having taken the crown on his first appearance at the race last season. With a number of strong accelerations in the finale on Wednesday, Yates was able to distance race leader Gaudu and come across the line only a handful of seconds down on stage winner Paret-Peintre.

The efforts were enough to move Yates into the red jersey, which he wins ahead of Paret-Peintre (6" down in second place) and Gaudu (39" in third).

Adam Yates gets to take the GC leader's red jersey home.

Yates: “I think we knew already from the start of the week that this would be the key stage. There was a hard climb on stage 3, but it was a little bit shorter and more explosive, so it didn’t suit my characteristics quite as well as today. We waited for today, and it turned out to be a good day.

“Throughout the stage, we pulled basically from the beginning because we knew it would be best for us if we could control the break and get the time bonus at the end of the stage. The team did a really good job and then in the final, Jay and Rafa did a great pace on the climb.

“I think I said at the beginning of the week that I’m not actually in top shape right now. I need to be good for a long time later in the year, so I’m happy to be at this level and fighting for the win. It’s a good sign for the future and I’m just happy to win!”

Heading into the final stage some six seconds behind Gaudu, Yates and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad were aware that they would have to take the race to Groupama-FDJ on the final summit finish. It was the young Luca Giaimi who first seized his opportunity on stage 5, making his way into the day’s breakaway, which went clear after 10km of racing and ensured that the Emirati squad would have a presence up the road for the majority of the day.

Ahead of the final climb, Giaimi dropped back to the peloton to offer his support to his teammates, with the pace ramping up in anticipation of Green Mountain. Averaging 10% for 5.4km, the final mountain test of this year’s Tour of Oman was always likely to decide the winner of the red jersey, and so it proved.

From the bottom of the climb, UAE Team Emirates-XRG battled – successfully – with the likes of Visma-Lease a Bike and Groupama-FDJ to gain position at the head of the peloton, before going to work at setting a hard pace on behalf of Yates. Despite a crash earlier in the stage, Rafał Majka produced an admirable display to reduce the size of the bunch, before Jay Vine operated as the last in line and dropped everybody but Yates, Paret-Peintre and Gaudu from his wheel inside 2km to go.

With Vine’s strong turn done, Yates picked his moment to accelerate and immediately it was race leader Gaudu who could not sustain the pace. Over the next kilometre, there would be a ding-dong contest between Yates and Paret-Peintre, with the Frenchman making his own dig off the front. To his credit, Yates stuck to task and was able to close the gap as they went under the flamme rouge.

As Gaudu battled hard to remain in contention, Yates made one final acceleration with a little over 700m to ride. The move was enough to rid Gaudu of the red jersey and whilst Paret-Peintre won the eventual sprint to the line, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man came over the line just two seconds behind, taking the overall victory of the Tour of Oman for the second time in as many years.

Less than a month into the 2025 campaign, Yates’ win is already UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s sixth of the season.

Here's the Tour of Oman report from stage five third-place David Gaudu's Team Groupama-FDJ:

Until the very end, David Gaudu tried to hold on to his leader’s jersey, but the last kilometre of the Green Mountain, on Wednesday, proved too much for the French climber. In this last stage of the Tour of Oman, the Groupama-FDJ rider was forced to let Valentin Paret-Peintre and Adam Yates get away as he approached the summit, thereby conceding the overall lead to the British rider. Nonetheless, he still concluded his first race of the season with a stage victory and an overall podium. A good omen for what’s coming next.

David Gaudu wins stage three.

Barely 138 kilometres were on the menu this Wednesday to complete the Tour of Oman, but nothing was done yet regarding the overall rankings. Indeed, after 133 kilometres quite flat, a serious difficulty awaited the riders; the Green Mountain, six kilometres long with a 10% average slope. The ride to reach it didn’t prove easy either, since a breakaway of eighteen riders managed to go clear after about ten kilometres, forcing the peloton into a frantic, continuous chase throughout the day. Enzo Paleni therefore set the tempo at the head of the pack for almost a hundred kilometres, with two other teams, to make sure the fugitives did not enjoy too big of a lead.

“Enzo did a great job today, but everyone contributed every day, depending on the race situation,” underlined Thierry Bricaud. The breakaway eventually got a maximum lead of two minutes thirty, which gradually reduced in the last thirty kilometres, with the Green Mountain in sight. The increasing nervousness also unfortunately led to the crash of Rudy Molard and Clément Braz Afonso with ten kilometres to go.

At the bottom of the final climb, six kilometres from the finish, a handful of riders still had a one-minute lead, but the extremely fast pace set by Adam Yates’ teammates not only drastically reduced the peloton, but also put an end to the adventure of the day’s attackers. Halfway up the climb, there were only about ten men left in the group of favorites, including David Gaudu, well positioned in the wheel of his main rival.

“I didn’t have extraordinary feelings, but it was still alright at the bottom,” said David. “Then, Jay Vine’s pull really hurt my legs, especially on the flatter section.” So, when the road picked up again to almost 15%, two kilometres from the summit, the Breton lost a few meters for the first time. “I managed my effort when Yates accelerated for the first time,” he said. “I came back, and with one kilometre to go, I tried to bluff. I got back alongside them, I closed my mouth, held back the pain hoping they would take a knock mentally. I thought: “maybe it can work.” But it didn’t work (smiles).” About 600 metres from the line, another attack by Adam Yates got the better of the Frenchman, and the Briton flew away with Valentin Paret-Peintre who beat him in the sprint.

David Gaudu reached the summit in third position, forty-five seconds later, which was too much to keep the leader’s jersey on his shoulders. “When you have the jersey in the morning and you can’t keep it in the final stage, you’re disappointed for sure,” he said later. “But I gave it my all. I fought with what I had day, I had to let go one kilometre from the finish and I completely blew up. If it had been decided by one second, I would have been much more frustrated. In this case, I can’t complain about anything. They were stronger than me on this last climb, I can just bow and say bravo to them”.

“The frustration of having lost the jersey quickly went away because we know that David gave everything”, added Thierry. “The hierarchy on the final climb was clear, and he was missing a little bit”. The 28-year-old climber nevertheless secured his place on the final podium, in third position, to conclude this great week of racing in Oman. “We would have signed up straight away for the podium overall and a stage win,” Thierry recalled. “Apart from that, the team’s spirit and commitment are very interesting going forward. Everyone was up to the task, and it shows the winter preparation was good. We know we’re ready, now we have to keep going.”

David Gaudu concluded: “We would have liked to put the icing on the cake but that’s part of cycling. There will always be more disappointing moments than happy moments. We’ll quickly get over this small disappointment to be ready next weekend for the races in the South of France!”

Here's the Tour of Oman final report from fourth-place Embret Svestad-Bårdseng's Team Arkea-B&B Hotels:

Embret Svestad-Bårdseng finished 4th at the top of Green Mountain and 8th overall in this event at 22 years old, and for one of his first races with the UCI WorldTour structure Arkea-B&B Hotels.

Embret Svestad-Bårdseng:
"This final stage of the Tour of Oman was a good day for the Arkea-B&B Hotels team and for me. All my team-mates did a great job for me. I was protected throughout the stages and I was able to evolve as the stages went by in a calm, stress-free way. I never caught the wind. I'd like to thank them for that, as well as the staff who also did a great job. Amaury gave me a good relay at the foot of the climb. I then made progress up the climb, passing riders and when the first decision was made I was in the company of Yates, Gaudu and Valentin Paret-Peintre.

Embret Svestad-Bårdseng (in the red/black Arkea-B&B Hotels jersey) on his way to fourth place in the stage.

"There were two kilometres to go and I couldn't keep up with them. I set my own tempo and came back on Uijtedebroeks, beating him in the sprint. In the end I finished 4th in the stage and 8th overall. These are good results for me as an individual, but also for the Arkea-B&B Hotels team."

Laurent Pichon, Sport director:
" Embret Svestad-Bårdseng finished fourth at the summit of Green Mountain, and considering the riders ahead of him, we are more than satisfied with the result achieved by this young rider, who is only 22 years old. The Arkea-B&B Hotels team did a great job to put him in the best possible position at the foot of the final climb. I saw a real team effort in this Tour of Oman. We knew that Embret had what it takes and this was confirmed by a result on the field. All we have to do now is recover well. The riders have worked well here and they'll be confident going into the next races. I'd like to highlight Élie Gesbert's 20th place, which is no mean feat considering all the problems he's had in recent seasons. He too is on the up."

Here's the Tour of Oman report from fifth-place Cian Uiijtdebroeks' Team Visma | Lease a Bike:

On the final day of the Tour of Oman, Cian Uijtdebroeks moved up to fifth place in the overall standings. The young Belgian from Team Visma | Lease a Bike held on for a long time during the final climb of the last stage, ultimately finishing fifth on the day. This strong performance wrapped up an already successful stage race in the Middle East on a positive note for Team Visma | Lease a Bike.

After the stage. Cian Uijtdebroeks seems to be a bit worse for the wear.

Niklas Behrens was part of the day’s breakaway on behalf of the Dutch team. The young German, making his debut in the yellow-and-black jersey, joined a 17-man break that gained more than two minutes on the peloton. However, the group was never given the opportunity to fight for the stage victory.

On the final climb, Team Visma | Lease a Bike fully supported Uijtdebroeks. The 21-year-old stayed in close company with riders such as Adam Yates, David Gaudu, and eventual stage winner Valentin Paret-Peintre until two kilometers from the finish. In the end, he lost ground to these three but fought hard to secure fifth place at the finish. This result also moved him up from seventh to fifth in the general classification.

“I’m very happy with this performance”, Uijtdebroeks said after the stage. “I gave it everything I had. The three riders ahead were simply the strongest today. I tried to close the gap to them, but unfortunately, I couldn’t quite manage it. I maintained my own high tempo throughout without pushing myself over the limit. The team did an excellent job once again today.”

For Uijtdebroeks, the Tour of Oman turned out to be a successful season opener. “I came here to achieve the best possible result in the overall classification, but maybe even more importantly, to regain a good feeling on the bike. It’s still the beginning of the season, and I know I have more progress to make, but I’m satisfied with my current form and how I feel. Looking back, I would have signed up for this result beforehand. It’s been a great week with the team,” Uijtdebroeks said with a smile.

For Team Visma | Lease a Bike, the Tour of Oman was a success. The team won the first and fourth stages with Olav Kooij, held the leader’s jersey for a day, and finished with Uijtdebroeks in the top five of the general classification. “Our sprint train went two for two, so we can be very satisfied with that,” said sports director Maarten Wynants. “Cian also showed himself twice. The level here was already high, but he demonstrated that he has taken another step forward compared to last season. I think fifth place is a fair reflection of his performance.”

And here's the Tour of Oman report from Teams Classification winner Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team:

Green Mountain was never going to be easy with average gradients well into the double digits and temperatures in Oman soaring. Add a crash at the foot of the climb to make the challenge even bigger for the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.

Damien Howson showed true grit after that crash to fight his way back to the front of the race and finish in seventh place on the day and fourth in the general classification. Matteo Badilatti (13) and David de la Cruz (15) also got in the top 15 of the general classification.

Thanks to their overall performance, the invaluable help of Xabier Mikel Azparren and Marcel Camprubí during the stages and the help and sprint results of Giacomo Nizzolo, Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team wins the teams’ classification.

36.5 Pro Cycling Team on the podium. Photo: Sprint Cycling

Damien Howson said: “It was nervous at the front and the roads were slippery at that right turn at the roundabout towards the climb. That caused a pile up in the bunch. It was a very hectic moment, but I am grateful for my team who were there for me before and after that crash. I did my best to the finish line, but I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I would have liked. It’s one of the hardest climbs ever with those gradients and after that crash I didn’t pace as well as I could have.

"It’s a shame to drop off that podium but I managed to hold onto fourth. It was within reach, but I couldn’t have done more than I did today under the circumstances. The way the team supported me today gave me the best opportunity to perform today. We now go back to Europe with great motivation and confidence going forward.”

Sports director Alex Sans Vega looks back at today: “We knew it would be a fast race with many riders wanting to be in the breakaway. Marcel Camprubí represented us in that large group of 17 that went away after 10 kilometers. It took a little way before they had a gap, but it was never big. At five kilometers it was just a minute, and they were caught.

"At that moment there was a big crash of around 20 riders with David, Xabier Mikel and Damien. Giacomo had to set foot on the ground too. Damien jumped back on soon and David and Xabiel Mikel paced him back. They rejoined the first group at the bottom of the climb. That was a really big effort before the actual climb started. Damien got better and better during the climb and passed more and more riders.

"I saw a big fight from all our guys and that was really nice to see. They were focused and committed. As a reward we get the team classification where everyone gets to be on the podium. It’s a nice picture to have. I am just very proud of everyone here.”

"As Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team we ride with radar focus. Winning a team classification is the best way to emphasize this process by everyone involved. Well done Damien, Xabier Mikel, David, Marcel, Giacomo, Matteo, Alex, Daniele, Edgar, Joaquin, Madlaine, Jens. Alejandro and Michał.”

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