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2017 Tour of Oman (HC)

8th edition: February 14 - February 19, 2017

2017 Tour of Oman map

Sunday, February 19: 6th and final stage, The Wave Muscat - Matrah Corniche, 130.5 km

Stage 6 profile

Alexander Kristoff

This makes a total of seven Tour of Oman stage wins (three this year, four previously) for Alexander Kristoff

The race: Here's the organizer's telling of the Tour of Oman's final stage.

The very eventful final day of the Tour of Oman, swept by the wind, crowned the two heroes of this 8th edition of the race. As expected the final stage between The Wave Muscat and the Matrah Corniche finished in a bunched sprint, claimed in style by Alexander Kristoff who wins his third stage of this edition. Meanwhile, several positions behind, Ben Hermans crossed the line in the pack securing his red jersey. The Belgian claims the overall victory, winning the GC ahead of Rui Costa and Fabio Aru. A fantastic achievement by the BMC rider who captures the biggest win of his career. A success that he started building on day 2 when he conquered the leader's jersey, before confirming his domination with another win at the top of Green Mountain yesterday.

Before taking on the 6th stage of the Tour of Oman, a 130.5-km ride from The Wave Muscat to the Matrah Corniche, including two short but tough climbs, a question came to mind: would overall leader Ben Hermans (BMC) be challenged by his GC rivals on this last stage? After conquering his second win of this 8th edition at the top of Green Mountain, the Belgian could count on what looked like a decisive lead of 22'' over Rui Costa (UAD) and 35'' over Fabio Aru (AST). Looking good for his first overall victory on the Tour of Oman, especially surrounded by a very strong BMC squad.

After bidding farewell to the residential area of The Wave Muscat, the 139 remaining riders of the race took off at 11:08. As soon as the first kilometre, three men managed to take off: Keisse (QST), De Gendt (SVB) and Giraud (DMP). Their lead grew from 30'' at km 5 to 2'30'' at km 18. It reached a maximum of 2'50'' before dropping as team Aqua Blue started chasing. Indeed, with De Gendt in the front group, the Most Aggressive jersey of Mark Christian (ABS) appeared to be in danger with many points up for grabs. Meanwhile in the pack, just before the first major difficulty, drama struck in the pack as leader Ben Hermans hit the ground. Thankfully without major injuries. On the first climb of the day (Al Hamriyah, km 78.5), Giraud was the first to be dropped. De Gendt made it first to the top collecting three points ahead of Keisse (2pts) and Van Hecke (SVB) on a counter-attack, 6'' adrift. Christian who had also broken away from the pack was 25'' behind.

The two leaders continued their efforts at the front. At the first intermediate sprint (km 92), claimed by De Gendt in front of Keisse, Van Hecke remained 1'15'' behind and the pack that had caught Christian, 2'15'' adrift. De Gendt also made it first at the top of Al Jissah, virtually capturing the Most Aggressive rider's jersey and added an extra 3 points to his tally at the second bonus sprint where the pack, including Van Hecke was 1'25'' behind. With under 10kms to go, Keisse decided to take off on his own. The Belgian could enjoy a 30'' lead over the pack that had caught De Gendt, with only one lap to go. Keisse was eventually caught with under 4kms remaining.

On the final climb of the circuit, Romain Bardet (ALM) powered away, taking with him Greg Van Avermaet (BMC). Both men saw their lead grow to a slim 10'' with 2kms left. They were finally caught 1 kilometre from the line. Time then came for a bunched sprint with a strong headwind on the final straight. Like on day 1 and stage 4, Alexander Kristoff (KAT) made the best of the work of his Katusha-Alpecin team mates and flew to a third win. The Norwegian crossed the line ahead of Romanian Eduard Grosu (NIP) and Italian Sacha Modolo (UAD) to capture his seventh victory in Oman.

Well protected by his BMC team mates, Ben Hermans made it to the finish among the peloton, winning the general classification of this 8th Tour of Oman. In the final standings, the Belgian wins the race with a 22'' lead over Rui Costa and 35'' over Fabio Aru. Second of the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana behind Nairo Quintana at the beginning of the month, he confirms his fine start to the 2017 season. Thanks to his day's success, Alexander Kristoff wins the green jersey (points classification) and Merhawi Kudus (DDD) finishes best young rider while his Dimension Data squad is the best team of this Tour of Oman. Present at the front, on day 1 and again for over 120kms of the final stage, Aimé De Gendt claims the most agressive rider's jersey.

Complete Results:

130.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.225 km/hr

1	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	2hr 57min 3sec
2	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
3	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
4	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
5	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
6	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
7	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
8	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
9	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
10	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
11	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
12	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
13	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
14	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
15	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
16	OSS Daniel	BMC	s.t.
17	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
18	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
19	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
20	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
21	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
22	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
23	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
24	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
25	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
26	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
27	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
28	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
29	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
30	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
31	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
32	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
33	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
34	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
35	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
36	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
37	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
38	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
39	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
40	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
41	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
42	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
43	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
44	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	s.t.
45	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
46	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
47	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	s.t.
48	MIRZA ALHAMMADI	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
49	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
50	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	s.t.
51	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
52	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
53	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
54	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
55	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
56	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
57	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
58	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
59	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
60	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
61	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
62	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
63	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
64	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
65	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	s.t.
66	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
67	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	s.t.
68	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
69	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
70	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	s.t.
71	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	s.t.
72	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
73	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
74	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
75	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
76	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
77	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
78	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
79	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
80	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
81	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
82	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	s.t.
83	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
84	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
85	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
86	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
87	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
88	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 00' 31''
89	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 00' 41''
90	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 00' 43''
91	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 05''
92	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
93	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
94	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
95	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 01' 07''
96	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
97	KUENG Stefan	BMC	+ 01' 25''
98	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
99	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
100	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
101	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	s.t.
102	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
103	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
104	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
105	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
106	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
107	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
108	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
109	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
110	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	s.t.
111	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
112	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
113	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
114	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
115	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
116	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
117	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
118	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
119	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	s.t.
120	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 38''
121	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 02' 33''
122	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 02' 33''
123	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
124	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 02' 57''
125	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
126	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
127	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
128	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
129	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
130	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 03' 02''
131	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
132	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	+ 03' 37''
133	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 03' 42''
134	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
135	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 04' 47''
136	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
137	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 06' 45''
138	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
139	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.

Final GC after Stage 6:

Final GC leader: Ben Hermans (BMC)
Points classification winner: Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin)
Young rider classification winner: Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data)
Team classification winner: Dimension Data

884.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.242 km/hr

1	HERMANS Ben	BMC	20h 56' 20''
2	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 00' 22''
3	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	+ 00' 35''
4	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 58''
5	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 12''
6	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 17''
7	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 19''
8	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 21''
9	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 33''
10	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 38''
11	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	+ 01' 40''
12	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 01' 48''
13	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	+ 02' 02''
14	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 02' 02''
15	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 02' 18''
16	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 02' 21''
17	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	+ 02' 27''
18	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 02' 34''
19	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 02' 58''
20	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 03' 10''
21	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	s.t.
22	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 03' 19''
23	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 03' 40''
24	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	+ 04' 15''
25	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	+ 04' 29''
26	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 04' 30''
27	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 04' 50''
28	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 05' 22''
29	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 05' 33''
30	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 05' 49''
31	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 06' 06''
32	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 07' 12''
33	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 07' 36''
34	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 08' 05''
35	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 09' 16''
36	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 09' 35''
37	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 09' 47''
38	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 09' 48''
39	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 10' 13''
40	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 10' 47''
41	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 11' 15''
42	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 11' 19''
43	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 11' 47''
44	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	+ 11' 49''
45	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 12' 37''
46	KUENG Stefan	BMC	+ 14' 12''
47	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 14' 44''
48	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 15' 22''
49	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 15' 31''
50	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 15' 43''
51	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 15' 46''
52	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 16' 18''
53	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 16' 20''
54	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 16' 48''
55	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 18' 21''
56	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 18' 51''
57	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 19' 18''
58	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 19' 23''
59	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	+ 19' 31''
60	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	+ 19' 33''
61	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 19' 53''
62	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 20' 07''
63	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 20' 13''
64	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	+ 20' 20''
65	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 20' 52''
66	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 20' 59''
67	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 21' 15''
68	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 22' 05''
69	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 22' 15''
70	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 22' 16''
71	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 22' 17''
72	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 22' 18''
73	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 22' 27''
74	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 22' 42''
75	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	+ 22' 44''
76	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 23' 00''
77	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 23' 55''
78	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 23' 56''
79	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	+ 24' 20''
80	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 24' 27''
81	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 25' 16''
82	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 25' 28''
83	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 26' 29''
84	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 26' 31''
85	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 26' 55''
86	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 27' 02''
87	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	+ 27' 45''
88	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 28' 12''
89	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 28' 51''
90	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 29' 58''
91	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 30' 06''
92	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 30' 22''
93	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 30' 38''
94	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 30' 53''
95	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 31' 11''
96	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 31' 17''
97	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 32' 14''
98	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 32' 32''
99	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 32' 39''
100	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 32' 43''
101	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 32' 44''
102	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
103	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 33' 36''
104	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 33' 40''
105	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 33' 53''
106	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	+ 34' 03''
107	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 34' 07''
108	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 34' 15''
109	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 34' 53''
110	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 35' 49''
111	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 36' 02''
112	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 36' 29''
113	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 36' 41''
114	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 36' 43''
115	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 37' 28''
116	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 37' 45''
117	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 38' 05''
118	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 38' 07''
119	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 38' 10''
120	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 38' 25''
121	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 39' 27''
122	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 39' 42''
123	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 39' 51''
124	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 40' 46''
125	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 40' 55''
126	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 40' 59''
127	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 41' 30''
128	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 43' 46''
129	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	+ 43' 47''
130	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 43' 56''
131	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 43' 56''
132	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 46' 04''
133	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 46' 51''
134	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 47' 24''
135	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 47' 31''
136	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 50' 14''
137	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 50' 44''
138	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 57' 13''
139	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 58' 05''

Stage 6 profile:

Saturday, February 18: Stage 5, Sama'il - Jabal Al Akhdhar, 152 km

Stage 5 profile

Ben Hermans

Ben Hermans wins the Tour of Oman queen stage

The race: Here's the day's racing as explained by the race organizer.

The queen stage of the Tour of Oman was at the height of expectations and the big guns battled it out in style on the final climb up Jabal Al Akhdhar (Green Mountain). After catching the five breakaway riders of the day, the favourites awaited the last kilometres to pull away. Boosted by his overall leader's red jersey, Ben Hermans kept his calm before making the difference in the last kilometre. He victoriously crossed the finish line, beating Fabio Aru and Rui Costa, and clinching his second stage success this week. The Belgian comforts his leadership and with one day to go, is on the verge of winning his first Tour of Oman.

There were some tense faces this morning at the start of stage 5 of the Tour of Oman. Despite the splendid setting at Sama'il, the GC contenders knew that today would be a decisive one for overall victory. Would overall leader Ben Hermans (BMC) be able to keep his red jersey? Would Romain Bardet (ALM) be at the height of expectations after finishing second of the same stage a year ago and second again of the Tour de France last July? In terms of the general classification there was only 28'' between the leader of the race and tenth man, Fabio Aru (AST), in other words not a lot seing how tough the final climb of the day was (5.7kms at 10.5%).

And the expected battle up Jabal Al Akhdhar would actually start far earlier. As soon as the riders took off for their 152.5-km ride, the pack broke up into two groups with all the main favourites at the front but Olympic Champion Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) stranded in a second bunch. Despite enjoying a 30'', the peloton gathered together again after 22kms. Eventually, five men managed to break away: Christian (ABS), Diaz (DMP), Pardini (WVA) Clarke (UHC) and Van Hecke (SVB). Their lead grew rapidly and reached 6' at km 50. But drama would then hit the race, both at the front and at the back. Indeed Mark Christian, already present in a break on Tuesday, hit the deck after going through water. Meanwhile, in the pack, a massive crash occurred sending the likes of Romain Bardet to the ground. As a consequence, the gap grew even more: 8'10 at km 81 for the front five.

At the first intermediate sprint (km 90), won by Christian ahead of Van Hecke and Diaz, the gap reached 8'35''. Team Astana then took control of the pack and started chasing. From then on the gap dropped: from 5' with 25kms to go to 2'50'' at the second bonus sprint (km 141), claimed by Van Hecke in front of Christian and Pardini. Time had come for the final climb up Green Mountain. While the front five where caught in the first kilometres of the ascent with 4 kms to go, Lachlan Morton (DDD) was the first to give it a go. The Australian was caught in the last 3 kilometres by 16 riders including 8 of the Top 10 GC men. It was then Merhawi Kudus' turn to take off just before the final kilometre but he too was reeled in. Victory finally went to the red jersey himself, Ben Hermans, who powered off with 750m to go, beating Fabio Aru (AST) by just 3'' while Rui Costa (UAD) crossed the line third, 11'' adrift.

Thanks to his second success this week, after triumphing at Al Bustan, Hermans comforts his overall leadership and now has a 22'' advantage over Rui Costa and 35'' over Aru. On the eve of the final stage on the Matrah Corniche, the BMC rider has all the cards in hands to conquer his very first Tour of Oman. He now also leads the points classification while Kudus (DDD), fifth today, remains the best young rider. The Most agressive rider's jersey changes shoulders and returns to those of Mark Christian.

Complete Results:

152 kilometers raced at an average speed of 36.661 km/hr

1	HERMANS Ben	BMC	4hr 8min 46sec
2	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	@ 3sec
3	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 00' 11''
4	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 00' 27''
5	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
6	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 00' 34''
7	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 38''
8	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 00' 41''
9	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 44''
10	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
11	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 03''
12	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	+ 01' 08''
13	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 01' 10''
14	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01' 19''
15	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 01' 28''
16	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
17	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 01' 29''
18	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 01' 38''
19	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 01' 42''
20	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 51''
21	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	+ 01' 58''
22	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 02' 03''
23	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 02' 04''
24	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	s.t.
25	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 02' 08''
26	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 02' 17''
27	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
28	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 02' 23''
29	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 02' 33''
30	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	+ 02' 36''
31	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 02' 55''
32	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 03' 01''
33	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
34	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 03' 07''
35	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	+ 03' 12''
36	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 03' 37''
37	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 03' 50''
38	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
39	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 03' 53''
40	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 04' 24''
41	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 04' 28''
42	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 04' 58''
43	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 05' 42''
44	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	+ 06' 00''
45	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
46	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	s.t.
47	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
48	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
49	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
50	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
51	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
52	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
53	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
54	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
55	KUENG Stefan	BMC	+ 06' 09''
56	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 06' 16''
57	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 06' 31''
58	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 06' 34''
59	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 06' 41''
60	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 06' 50''
61	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 07' 04''
62	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 07' 08''
63	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 07' 11''
64	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	+ 07' 14''
65	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 07' 22''
66	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 22''
67	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 07' 25''
68	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 07' 40''
69	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 07' 42''
70	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 07' 49''
71	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 08' 03''
72	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 08' 03''
73	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 09' 31''
74	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
75	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
76	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
77	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
78	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
79	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	s.t.
80	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
81	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
82	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
83	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
84	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
85	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 09' 37''
86	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 09' 51''
87	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 10' 01''
88	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
89	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 10' 08''
90	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 10' 19''
91	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 10' 38''
92	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 10' 48''
93	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
94	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
95	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
96	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
97	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 11' 04''
98	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 11' 09''
99	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 11' 21''
100	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 11' 33''
101	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
102	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	+ 11' 44''
103	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 12' 05''
104	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 12' 23''
105	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 12' 35''
106	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 12' 44''
107	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 12' 49''
108	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
109	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
110	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 13' 00''
111	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
112	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
113	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 13' 03''
114	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
115	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 13' 09''
116	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
117	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 13' 13''
118	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 13' 23''
119	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 13' 39''
120	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 13' 55''
121	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 14' 02''
122	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 14' 02''
123	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 14' 40''
124	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
125	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 15' 02''
126	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 15' 11''
127	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
128	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 15' 15''
129	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	s.t.
130	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
131	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
132	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 15' 20''
133	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
134	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
135	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 15' 32''
136	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 15' 35''
137	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 15' 38''
138	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 17' 21''
139	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 17' 53''

GC after Stage 5:

GC leader: Ben Hermans (BMC)
Points classification leader: Ben Hermans (BMC)
Young rider classification leader: Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data)
Team classification leader: Dimension Data

754 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 41.917 km/hr

1	HERMANS Ben	BMC	17hr 59min 17sec
2	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	@ 22sec
3	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	+ 00' 35''
4	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 58''
5	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 12''
6	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 17''
7	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 19''
8	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 21''
9	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 33''
10	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 38''
11	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	+ 01' 40''
12	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 01' 48''
13	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	+ 02' 02''
14	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
15	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 02' 18''
16	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 02' 21''
17	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	+ 02' 27''
18	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 02' 34''
19	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 02' 58''
20	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 02' 59''
21	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 03' 10''
22	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	+ 03' 10''
23	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 03' 19''
24	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 03' 57''
25	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	+ 04' 15''
26	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	+ 04' 29''
27	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 04' 30''
28	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 04' 50''
29	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 05' 33''
30	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 05' 49''
31	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 06' 06''
32	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 00''
33	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 07' 12''
34	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 07' 36''
35	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 09' 16''
36	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 09' 35''
37	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 09' 47''
38	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 09' 48''
39	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 09' 54''
40	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 10' 13''
41	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 10' 47''
42	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 11' 15''
43	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 11' 47''
44	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	+ 11' 49''
45	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 12' 37''
46	KUENG Stefan	BMC	+ 12' 47''
47	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 13' 19''
48	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 14' 39''
49	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 14' 53''
50	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 15' 22''
51	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 15' 31''
52	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 15' 46''
53	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 15' 53''
54	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 16' 20''
55	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 16' 48''
56	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	+ 18' 06''
57	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 18' 51''
58	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	+ 18' 55''
59	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 19' 18''
60	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 19' 19''
61	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 19' 23''
62	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 19' 29''
63	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 19' 32''
64	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	+ 19' 33''
65	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 19' 50''
66	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 19' 53''
67	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 20' 07''
68	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 20' 13''
69	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 20' 59''
70	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 22' 15''
71	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 22' 17''
72	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 22' 18''
73	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 22' 27''
74	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 22' 42''
75	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	+ 22' 44''
76	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 22' 49''
77	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 23' 00''
78	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 23' 02''
79	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 23' 51''
80	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 23' 55''
81	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	+ 24' 20''
82	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 25' 28''
83	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 25' 58''
84	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 26' 31''
85	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 26' 47''
86	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 26' 55''
87	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 27' 02''
88	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 27' 25''
89	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	+ 27' 45''
90	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 28' 41''
91	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 28' 51''
92	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 28' 57''
93	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 30' 38''
94	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 30' 39''
95	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 30' 53''
96	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	+ 31' 05''
97	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 31' 11''
98	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 31' 17''
99	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 31' 18''
100	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 31' 19''
101	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 31' 42''
102	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 32' 14''
103	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 32' 32''
104	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 32' 39''
105	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 32' 44''
106	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 33' 32''
107	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 33' 40''
108	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 33' 59''
109	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 34' 07''
110	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 34' 26''
111	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 34' 43''
112	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 34' 53''
113	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 34' 57''
114	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 35' 08''
115	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 35' 13''
116	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 35' 16''
117	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 35' 49''
118	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 36' 30''
119	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 36' 40''
120	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 36' 42''
121	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 36' 43''
122	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 37' 11''
123	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 38' 26''
124	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 38' 33''
125	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 39' 34''
126	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 39' 42''
127	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	+ 40' 10''
128	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 40' 39''
129	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 40' 50''
130	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 40' 55''
131	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 41' 23''
132	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 41' 23''
133	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 42' 39''
134	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 45' 26''
135	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 46' 06''
136	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 48' 36''
137	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 49' 19''
138	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 51' 20''
139	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 56' 08''

Stage 5 profile:

Friday, February 17: Stage 4, Yeti (Jebel Sifah) - Ministry of Tourism, 118 km

Stage 4 profile

Alexander Kristoff

Alexander Kristoff wins his second stage in this year's Tour of Oman

The race: Here's the organizer's telling of the day's racing.

On a day, between Yiti and the Ministry of Tourism, when the contenders for the red jersey had all the ingredients to gain precious time, Alexander Kristoff showed what great legs he had, managing to catch up with the group of favourites after the numerous climbs on the stage's menu and flying to his second success of this 8th Tour of Oman. The Norwegian, part of a group of under 50 riders, powered to the line, beating Sonny Colbrelli and Greg Van Avermaet. Promising before the period of classics to come! It was another solid day for overall leader Ben Hermans who keeps command of the race and even gains precious seconds on his rivals before the all-important stage to Green Mountain tomorrow.

After gathering south-east of Muscate at the very pleasant Al Sifa resort, the 141 remaining riders of the Tour of Oman knew they would have a short but very demanding stage. Just after noon, the pack took off from Yiti heading back to the Sultanate's capital. On the menu: 118kms including five vicious climbs before zooming down to the Ministry of Tourism. Potentially a decisive day on a stage won in the past by the likes of Chris Froome, Peter Sagan or Edvald Boasson Hagen!

After 8 kilometres, nine men managed to break away: Kangert (AST), Domont (ALM), Kung (BMC), Ait El Abdia (UAD), Jungels (QST), Denifl (ABS), Teunissen (SUN), Doubey (WGG) and Eaton (UHC). At the first intermediate sprint, claimed by Jungels ahead of Teunissen and Kangert, the gap reached 1'20''. It grew to 1'45'' at the top of the first climb (Al Jissah) where again Jungels led the way, and it even reached a maximum of 1'50 at the summit of the second climb (Wadi Al Kabir, km 38.5).

That was when team BMC Racing of red jersey Ben Hermans took command of the pack and started chasing. After reaching the top of the first of three climbs up Boucher Al Amerat (from both sides) led out by Denifl, the front group started struggling. Jungels, Teunissen and Eaton were the first to be dropped and eventually caught by the pack. Again Austrian Denifl clinched the most points at the top of the second climb (km 89.5) while the pack moved closer at 1'10''. With 25kms to go, the gap had dropped to 50''. Eventually on the final ascent, only three men remained in the lead: Domont, Kung and Ait El Abdia while the peloton thinned down to around 20 riders including all the favourites. At km 100, it was all over for the escapees.

Fifteen men then powered away in the last kilometre up Bousher Al Amerat including the red jersey, Ben Hermans, his closest rivals, Rui Costa (UAD), Fuglsang (AST) but also GC contenders De La Cruz (QST), Bardet (ALM) and Aru (AST). At the second bonus sprint, Hermans captured 3 precious bonus seconds ahead of De la Cruz and Bardet. With 10kms to go, the leading 15 had a 15'' lead over a group including white jersey Merhawi Kudus (DDD) and 25'' over the Kristoff-Van Avermaet bunch of 20 men. Despite attacks from Mathias Frank (ALM), Rui Costa and Jakob Fuglsang, the first three groups bunched up in the final moments of the race. And the final battle would involve just under 50 men. Well led out by his Katusha-Alpecin team mates, Alexander Kristoff (KAT) outsprinted all his rivals, crossing the line ahead of Sonny Colbrelli (TBM) and Greg Van Avermaet. The Norwegian claims his sixth stage success in Oman, his second of this edition after winning stage 1 in Naseem Park.

Twenty-ninth of the stage, Ben Hermans well protected by his BMC companions keeps command of the general classification and even gains time on his rivals: now 5'' over Rui Costa and 13'' over Fuglsang. Fourteenth today, Frenchman Romain Bardet (ALM) remains in contention for the overall win. On the eve of the stage to Jabal Al Akhdhar (Green Mountain), he's only 23'' adrift in the GC. Thanks to his win, Kristoff who hopes to shine during the Classics, like in 2014 when he won Milan-San Remo or 2015 when he claimed the Tour of Flanders, re-conquers the green jersey (points classification) while Kudus stays best young rider (white jersey). Part of the break of the day, Stefan Denifl (ABS) takes the most agressive rider's jersey from his team mate Mark Christian.

Complete Results:

118 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.529 km/hr

1	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	2hr 50min 29sec
2	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
3	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	s.t.
4	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
5	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
6	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
7	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
8	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
9	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
10	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
11	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
12	OSS Daniel	BMC	s.t.
13	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
14	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
15	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
16	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	s.t.
17	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
18	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
19	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	s.t.
20	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
21	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
22	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
23	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
24	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
25	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
26	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
27	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
28	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
29	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
30	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
31	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
32	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	s.t.
33	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
34	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	s.t.
35	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
36	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
37	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
38	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
39	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
40	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
41	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	s.t.
42	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
43	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
44	KUENG Stefan	BMC	s.t.
45	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
46	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 00' 12''
47	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
48	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 00' 25''
49	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 00' 27''
50	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 00' 57''
51	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
52	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 00' 58''
53	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 01' 15''
54	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 01' 35''
55	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	s.t.
56	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 40''
57	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 02' 18''
58	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 02' 49''
59	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
60	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 04' 29''
61	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
62	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
63	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
64	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	s.t.
65	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
66	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
67	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 05' 26''
68	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	s.t.
69	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
70	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
71	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
72	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
73	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
74	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	s.t.
75	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
76	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
77	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
78	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
79	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
80	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
81	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 08' 10''
82	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
83	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
84	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
85	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
86	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
87	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
88	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
89	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 08' 17''
90	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
91	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
92	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
93	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
94	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
95	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
96	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
97	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
98	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
99	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
100	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
101	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
102	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
103	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
104	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
105	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
106	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
107	MIRZA ALHAMMADI	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
108	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
109	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
110	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
111	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
112	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
113	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
114	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
115	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
116	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	s.t.
117	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 04''
118	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	s.t.
119	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	s.t.
120	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
121	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
122	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
123	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
124	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
125	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
126	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
127	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
128	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
129	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
130	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
131	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 11' 32''
132	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
133	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
134	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 12' 52''
135	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
136	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
137	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
138	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
139	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
140	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.

GC after Stage 3:

GC leader: Ben Hermans (BMC)
Points classification leader: Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin)
Young rider classification leader: Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data)
Team classification leader: Dimension Data

602 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 43.482 km/hr

1	HERMANS Ben	BMC	13hr 50min 41sec
2	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 00' 05''
3	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	+ 00' 13''
4	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 21''
5	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	+ 00' 22''
6	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 00' 23''
7	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	+ 00' 24''
8	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
9	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
10	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	+ 00' 28''
11	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
12	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
13	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
14	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 33''
15	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 44''
16	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 00' 46''
17	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
18	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 52''
19	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 53''
20	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 00' 56''
21	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
22	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 01' 02''
23	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 05''
24	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 01' 06''
25	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 01' 15''
26	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 19''
27	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 01' 20''
28	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 01' 22''
29	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 01' 30''
30	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 34''
31	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 02' 19''
32	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	+ 02' 21''
33	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 02' 28''
34	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 02' 34''
35	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 02' 37''
36	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 03' 20''
37	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 32''
38	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 03' 49''
39	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	+ 04' 25''
40	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 04' 55''
41	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 05' 47''
42	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 05' 48''
43	KUENG Stefan	BMC	+ 06' 28''
44	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 06' 33''
45	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 06' 37''
46	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 07' 08''
47	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 07' 09''
48	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 07' 36''
49	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	+ 07' 39''
50	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 07' 53''
51	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 08' 10''
52	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 08' 34''
53	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 08' 43''
54	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 08' 46''
55	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 09' 12''
56	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	+ 09' 14''
57	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 09' 29''
58	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 09' 52''
59	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 10' 03''
60	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 10' 07''
61	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 10' 32''
62	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 11' 06''
63	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 11' 43''
64	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 11' 44''
65	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	+ 11' 56''
66	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 12' 00''
67	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 12' 06''
68	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 12' 34''
69	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 12' 36''
70	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
71	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 13' 09''
72	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 13' 13''
73	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 13' 19''
74	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	+ 13' 22''
75	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 13' 24''
76	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 13' 52''
77	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 13' 57''
78	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 14' 10''
79	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 14' 43''
80	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	+ 14' 46''
81	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 15' 52''
82	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 16' 05''
83	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 16' 08''
84	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 16' 17''
85	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
86	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	+ 16' 34''
87	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 17' 00''
88	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 17' 22''
89	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 17' 26''
90	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 17' 28''
91	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 18' 03''
92	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 18' 18''
93	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 18' 23''
94	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 18' 34''
95	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 18' 50''
96	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 18' 59''
97	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 19' 38''
98	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 20' 22''
99	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 20' 31''
100	MIRZA ALHAMMADI	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 20' 44''
101	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
102	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 20' 57''
103	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 20' 58''
104	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 21' 07''
105	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 21' 08''
106	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	+ 21' 24''
107	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 21' 38''
108	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 22' 03''
109	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
110	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 22' 31''
111	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 22' 38''
112	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 22' 58''
113	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 23' 03''
114	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
115	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 23' 03''
116	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 23' 16''
117	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 23' 17''
118	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 23' 21''
119	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 23' 28''
120	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 23' 35''
121	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 23' 52''
122	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 23' 54''
123	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 24' 17''
124	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	+ 24' 45''
125	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 25' 12''
126	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 25' 16''
127	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 25' 20''
128	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 25' 34''
129	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 26' 01''
130	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 26' 02''
131	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 27' 09''
132	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 27' 38''
133	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 27' 45''
134	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 28' 03''
135	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 30' 14''
136	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 31' 36''
137	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 33' 46''
138	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 35' 07''
139	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 35' 38''
140	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 38' 37''

Stage 4 profile:

Thursday, February 16: Stage 3, Sultan Qaboos University - Quriyat, 162 km

Soren Andersen

Søren Kragh Andersen (right) takes the Tour of Oman's third stage

The race: Here's the organizer's telling of the day's racing.

Day three of the Tour of Oman again finished with a fine battle between the big guns of the GC. But this time, young Soren Kragh Andersen surprised the field by clinching his maiden success in Oman. After the final demanding climb, the Dane powered to the line in Quriyat, beating Rui Costa and Ben Hermans to capture his first win as a professional. The overall leader's red jersey remains on the shoulders of Hermans before the two decisive stages of this 8th edition including the climb up Green Mountain on saturday.

There was a very festive atmosphere this morning at the start of stage 3 of the Tour of Oman set at the Sultan Qaboos University. Welcomed by the students proud to present their photography exhibition of Oman and their splendid cycling paintings, created live, the 141 riders gathered together for the start of the 162-km stage heading to Quriyat. After waving goodbye to the University and the dozen thoroughbred stallions that also had a taste of the show, it was time to race.

It only took six kilometres for 6 riders to break away from the pack: Brammeier (ABS), Feng (TBM), Van Lerberghe (SVB), Mannion (UHC), Kuboki (NIP) and Sisr (CCC). After enjoying a 4' lead, the gap started dropping as team BMC of Red jersey, Ben Hermans, took command of the pack. At the top of the first climb of the day (Bousher Al Amerat, km 33) where Kuboki captured the most points ahead of Van Lerberghe and Brammeier, the pack remained 2'20'' adrift. Again the gap grew to 4' before dropping to 3' once at the first intermediate sprint (km 81) claimed by Van Lerberghe ahead of Kuboki and Sisr.

The front six continued their progression towards Quriyat heading south-west, clear from the pack but within control. At the second bonus sprint (km 139.5), won by Sisr in front of Van Lerberghe and Kuboki, the pack had moved closer, only 50'' adrift. While Brammeier was the first to be dropped and caught, the remaining five leading riders hung on before they were gobbled up by the peloton with 17kms remaining.

On the final climb just on the outskirts of Quriyat, Julian Arredondo (NIP) was the first to give it a go in the last 2kms. He was soon caught and distanced by Laurens De Plus (QST) who could enjoy a 8'' lead with only 1 kilometre to go. The Belgian remained alone in front in the closing moments but was caught by the group of favourites including 30 men. Like on the previous day, timing was essential, as Soren Kragh Andersen (SUN) powered to the finish. The Danish victoriously crossed the line beating Rui Costa (UAD) and red jersey Ben Hermans (BMC). A fantastic performance by the young 22-year-old, clinching his first professional success after shining as an Under-23 rider with stage wins at the Tour de l'Avenir and the GC of the ZLM Tour.

Third on the day, Ben Hermans remains in the overall lead with a 2'' advantage over Rui Costa and 10'' over Jakob Fuglsang (AST). The Belgian also takes command of the points classification while Kudus keeps the best young rider's white jersey. Mark Christian also keeps the most agressive jersey on his shoulders.

Complete Results:

162 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.684 km/hr

1	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	3hr 53min 11sec
2	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
3	HERMANS Ben	BMC	s.t.
4	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
5	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	s.t.
6	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	s.t.
7	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
8	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
9	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	@ 4sec
10	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
11	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
12	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
13	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	s.t.
14	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
15	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 09''
16	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 00' 10''
17	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
18	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
19	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
20	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
21	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
22	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
23	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	s.t.
24	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 16''
25	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 18''
26	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
27	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
28	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 20''
29	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
30	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 00' 25''
31	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
32	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
33	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
34	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
35	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
36	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
37	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	s.t.
38	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 00' 32''
39	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 00' 37''
40	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 00' 39''
41	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	+ 00' 41''
42	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 00' 44''
43	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	s.t.
44	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 00' 58''
45	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 01' 07''
46	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 01' 10''
47	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
48	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
49	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 12''
50	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
51	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
52	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 17''
53	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
54	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
55	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 23''
56	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 01' 27''
57	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 01' 29''
58	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
59	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
60	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 01' 31''
61	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 01' 42''
62	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 01' 56''
63	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 02' 19''
64	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 02' 28''
65	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
66	KUENG Stefan	BMC	s.t.
67	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
68	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 02' 33''
69	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
70	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
71	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
72	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
73	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
74	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
75	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 02' 46''
76	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
77	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 03' 23''
78	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	s.t.
79	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
80	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
81	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	s.t.
82	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
83	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
84	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 03' 33''
85	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
86	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
87	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
88	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	+ 03' 34''
89	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 03' 37''
90	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	+ 03' 39''
91	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
92	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
93	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 47''
94	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 03' 53''
95	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
96	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
97	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
98	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
99	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 03' 54''
100	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
101	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
102	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 04' 20''
103	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
104	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
105	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 04' 34''
106	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 04' 48''
107	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 04' 52''
108	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
109	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
110	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
111	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
112	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
113	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
114	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
115	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 06' 07''
116	MARECZKO Jakub	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
117	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
118	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
119	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
120	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 06' 17''
121	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 06' 19''
122	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
123	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	+ 06' 24''
124	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 06' 50''
125	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
126	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
127	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 07' 05''
128	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
129	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
130	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
131	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
132	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
133	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
134	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
135	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
136	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
137	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
138	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 07' 11''
139	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 07' 11''
140	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 07' 35''
141	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 08' 02''

GC after Stage 3:

GC leader: Ben Hermans (BMC)
Points classification leader: Ben Hermans (BMC)
Young rider classification leader: Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data)
Team classification leader: Dimension Data

484 kilometers ridden so far at an average speed of 43.983 km/hr

1	HERMANS Ben	BMC	11hr 0min 15sec
2	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	@ 2sec
3	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	+ 00' 10''
4	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 18''
5	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	+ 00' 21''
6	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
7	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
8	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
9	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	+ 00' 25''
10	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
11	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
12	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	s.t.
13	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
14	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 30''
15	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 41''
16	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	+ 00' 43''
17	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
18	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
19	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 49''
20	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 50''
21	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	+ 00' 53''
22	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
23	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 00' 59''
24	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
25	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 02''
26	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 01' 03''
27	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 01' 12''
28	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 16''
29	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
30	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 01' 17''
31	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 01' 19''
32	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 01' 27''
33	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01' 28''
34	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 01' 31''
35	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 01' 37''
36	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 01' 56''
37	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 02' 16''
38	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 02' 24''
39	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 02' 26''
40	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 02' 37''
41	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 02' 41''
42	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 03' 29''
43	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 03' 41''
44	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 03' 45''
45	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	s.t.
46	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 04' 02''
47	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 04' 14''
48	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 04' 16''
49	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	+ 04' 22''
50	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 04' 23''
51	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 04' 31''
52	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 04' 34''
53	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 04' 53''
54	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 05' 02''
55	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 05' 04''
56	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 05' 32''
57	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 05' 37''
58	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 05' 39''
59	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 05' 45''
60	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 05' 50''
61	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 06' 00''
62	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 06' 09''
63	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 06' 23''
64	KUENG Stefan	BMC	+ 06' 25''
65	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	+ 06' 27''
66	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	s.t.
67	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 06' 37''
68	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 06' 38''
69	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 07' 05''
70	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 07' 33''
71	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	+ 07' 36''
72	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 07' 48''
73	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 07' 50''
74	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 07' 57''
75	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
76	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 08' 04''
77	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 08' 11''
78	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 08' 28''
79	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
80	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 08' 37''
81	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 08' 47''
82	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 08' 51''
83	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 09' 08''
84	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
85	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 09' 50''
86	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 10' 03''
87	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 10' 04''
88	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 10' 24''
89	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 10' 38''
90	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 10' 51''
91	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 10' 59''
92	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 11' 01''
93	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 11' 20''
94	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 11' 33''
95	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 11' 41''
96	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 12' 24''
97	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
98	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	+ 12' 37''
99	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 12' 47''
100	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	+ 13' 04''
101	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 13' 07''
102	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 13' 14''
103	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 13' 18''
104	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	+ 13' 19''
105	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	+ 13' 28''
106	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 13' 30''
107	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 13' 43''
108	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 13' 45''
109	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 13' 49''
110	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 14' 09''
111	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 14' 11''
112	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 14' 25''
113	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 14' 38''
114	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 14' 43''
115	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
116	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
117	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
118	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
119	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 14' 53''
120	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 14' 56''
121	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 14' 57''
122	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 15' 13''
123	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 15' 15''
124	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 15' 54''
125	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 16' 04''
126	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
127	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 16' 10''
128	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	+ 16' 15''
129	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 16' 28''
130	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 16' 52''
131	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 16' 56''
132	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 17' 02''
133	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 17' 21''
134	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 17' 49''
135	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 20' 07''
136	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 23' 23''
137	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 24' 03''
138	MARECZKO Jakub	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 24' 34''
139	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 25' 00''
140	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 25' 26''
141	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 25' 42''

Wednesday, February 15: Stage 2, Nakhal - Al Bustan, 145.5 km

Ben Hermans

Ben Hermans wins Tour of Oman stage 2

The Race: Here's the organizer's telling of the day's racing.

Stage 2 of the Tour of Oman once again proved how beautiful and demanding the roads and hills of the Middle-East nation can be. After the battle between the sprinters yesterday, it was time for the GC contenders to show how good their legs were. Part of the leading group on the final climb of the day, Ben Hermans awaited the ultimate moments to power to his first ever stage success in Oman beating Rui Costa and Jakob Fuglsang to the line. The Belgian captures the overall lead and the Red Jersey going with it.

After a first flat stage on the Tour of Oman, day 2 would be far more demanding for the 142 remaining riders of the race. In slightly cloudy conditions, making the temperature drop slightly, the pack took off from the Nakhal Castle for a 142-km race all the way to the west of Muscate, via several extremely steep climbs. It would be a day for GC contenders.

After a very fast start (50.8kms covered during the first hour) and despite many breakaway attempts, it wasn't until km 45 that two men managed to take off: Christian (ABS) and Van Hecke (SVB), winner of the Most Aggressive Riders' jersey back in 2014. Both escapees saw their advantage grow rapidly: from 5'50 at km 50 to 7'55'' at the first intermediate sprint claimed by Van Hecke ahead of Christian and Red Jersey Kristoff (KAT), leading the pack.

But under the control of teams AG2R-La Mondiale, UAE Abu Dhabi and Astana, the gap started dropping dramatically. At the top of the second climb of the day (km 96.5), Christian led the way ahead of Van Hecke while the pack remained 4'10'' adrift. On the steep climb up Al Hamriyah (km 123), Christian was the only man left in the lead. He managed to reach the top with a 10'' advantage before being eventually caught. On the final part of the course, on hilly and sinuous roads, Daniel Eaton (UHC) powered away taking with him Lasse-Norman Hansen (ABS). Both men could enjoy a 30'' lead with 10kms to go. At the second bonus sprint claimed by Eaton ahead of Hansen, the pack had moved closer, only 20'' adrift. The front riders were finally caught before the final climb up Al Jissah.

Around 40 riders remained in the lead while the likes of race leader Alexander Kristoff, Tom Boonen and Bob Jungels (both QST) were dropped. Olympic silver medallist in Rio, Jakob Fuglsang (AST), made it first to the top ahead of De la Cruz (QST) and Rui Costa (UAD), as the favourites' group remained bunched. Taking off in the last 500m, Kudus (DDD) thought his effort would pay off but he was eventually caught in the last few metres. Perfectly timing his effort, Ben Hermans (BMC) indeed captured the win beating Rui Costa (UAD) and Jakob Fuglsang (AST) to the line. The Belgian, already a winner of the Fleche Brabançonne as well as stages on the Arctic Race of Norway and the Tour de Yorkshire claims his first success in Oman.

Hermans, thanks to his performance, takes command of the general classification, enjoying a 4'' lead over Rui Costa and 6'' over Fuglsang while pre-race favourites Fabio Aru (AST), 6th, and Romain Bardet (ALM), 10th, are 17'' adrift. Claiming precious points at both intermediate sprints, Kristoff keeps control of the Green Jersey (points classification). Fourth of the stage, Kudus can be satisfied with the White Jersey for the best young rider. One of the men of the day, Mark Christian captures the Most Aggressive riders' jersey.

Complete results:

145.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.472 km/hr

1	HERMANS Ben	BMC	3hr 20min 49sec
2	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
3	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	s.t.
4	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	@ 4sec
5	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 07''
6	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	s.t.
7	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	s.t.
8	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
9	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	s.t.
10	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
11	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
12	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
13	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
14	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 12''
15	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 00' 17''
16	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 19''
17	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	s.t.
18	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
19	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
20	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
21	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 00' 24''
22	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 00' 27''
23	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
24	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 00' 29''
25	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 00' 33''
26	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
27	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 00' 35''
28	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 00' 37''
29	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 00' 38''
30	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
31	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
32	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
33	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 00' 44''
34	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 45''
35	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 00' 48''
36	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 53''
37	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
38	RODRIGUEZ John	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 00' 56''
39	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 00' 58''
40	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
41	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
42	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 01' 03''
43	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
44	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 01' 11''
45	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 01' 43''
46	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
47	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
48	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
49	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 02' 13''
50	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
51	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	+ 02' 50''
52	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	s.t.
53	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	s.t.
54	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	s.t.
55	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
56	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
57	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
58	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
59	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
60	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
61	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 03' 10''
62	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
63	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
64	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 03' 19''
65	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 03' 36''
66	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
67	KUENG Stefan	BMC	+ 03' 43''
68	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
69	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
70	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	s.t.
71	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	s.t.
72	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
73	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
74	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
75	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
76	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
77	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 04' 20''
78	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
79	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
80	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
81	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
82	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
83	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
84	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 04' 23''
85	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 04' 46''
86	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 05' 01''
87	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
88	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
89	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
90	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
91	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	+ 05' 08''
92	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 05' 18''
93	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 05' 37''
94	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 07' 20''
95	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 07' 24''
96	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 07' 48''
97	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 07' 52''
98	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 08' 45''
99	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
100	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 08' 51''
101	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 09' 00''
102	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 09' 17''
103	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
104	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 09' 33''
105	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 09' 37''
106	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
107	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
108	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
109	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
110	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
111	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
112	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
113	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
114	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
115	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
116	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
117	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
118	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
119	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
120	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
121	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
122	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
123	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
124	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
125	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
126	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
127	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
128	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	s.t.
129	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
130	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
131	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 09' 56''
132	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 10' 02''
133	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
134	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 11' 16''
135	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 11' 20''
136	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 16' 44''
137	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
138	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
139	MARECZKO Jakub	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 18' 13''
140	WALSCHEID Maximilian	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 18' 21''
141	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 18' 23''
142	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.

GC after Stage 2:

GC leader: Ben Hermans (BMC)
Points classification leader: Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin)
Young rider classification leader: Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data)
Team classification leader: Dimension Data

322 kilometers ridden so far at an average speed of 45.232 km/hr

1	HERMANS Ben	BMC	7hr 7min 8sec
2	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	@ 4sec
3	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	+ 00' 06''
4	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 14''
5	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 17''
6	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	s.t.
7	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
8	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	s.t.
9	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
10	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
11	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
12	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC	s.t.
13	GRMAY Tsgabu	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
14	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 22''
15	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 00' 27''
16	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	+ 00' 29''
17	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
18	FERNANDEZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
19	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
20	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
21	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 00' 34''
22	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	+ 00' 37''
23	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
24	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 00' 39''
25	OSS Daniel	BMC	+ 00' 43''
26	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
27	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 00' 45''
28	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 00' 47''
29	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
30	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 00' 48''
31	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
32	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
33	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 00' 54''
34	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	+ 00' 55''
35	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	+ 01' 03''
36	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 04''
37	RODRIGUEZ John	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 01' 06''
38	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	+ 01' 08''
39	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
40	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 01' 13''
41	TEUNISSEN Mike	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
42	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 01' 21''
43	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 01' 53''
44	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
45	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
46	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
47	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 01' 54''
48	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 02' 23''
49	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
50	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 03' 00''
51	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
52	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
53	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
54	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
55	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
56	SCHÄR Michael	BMC	s.t.
57	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC	s.t.
58	ELMIGER Martin	BMC	s.t.
59	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	s.t.
60	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 03' 18''
61	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 03' 20''
62	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
63	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 03' 29''
64	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 03' 41''
65	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 03' 46''
66	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
67	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 03' 53''
68	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	s.t.
69	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
70	KUENG Stefan	BMC	s.t.
71	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
72	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
73	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	s.t.
74	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 04' 29''
75	SINKELDAM Ramon	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 04' 30''
76	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
77	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
78	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
79	STAMSNIJDER Tom	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
80	CURVERS Roy	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
81	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 04' 56''
82	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 05' 02''
83	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 05' 11''
84	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
85	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
86	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
87	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC	+ 05' 28''
88	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
89	WAEYTENS ZICO	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 05' 39''
90	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	+ 05' 47''
91	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 07' 09''
92	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 07' 30''
93	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 07' 31''
94	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	+ 07' 58''
95	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	+ 08' 02''
96	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 08' 36''
97	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 08' 55''
98	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
99	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 09' 10''
100	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 09' 27''
101	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
102	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	+ 09' 41''
103	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 09' 43''
104	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 09' 45''
105	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 09' 46''
106	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 09' 47''
107	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
108	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
109	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
110	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
111	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
112	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
113	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
114	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	s.t.
115	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
116	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
117	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
118	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
119	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
120	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
121	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
122	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	s.t.
123	DE BACKER Bert	TEAM SUNWEB	s.t.
124	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
125	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
126	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
127	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 10' 12''
128	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
129	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 10' 40''
130	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 11' 00''
131	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE	+ 11' 26''
132	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 11' 27''
133	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 12' 38''
134	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 13' 01''
135	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 13' 44''
136	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 16' 54''
137	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
138	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 18' 17''
139	MARECZKO Jakub	WILIER TRIESTINA	+ 18' 23''
140	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 18' 27''
141	WALSCHEID Maximilian	TEAM SUNWEB	+ 18' 31''
142	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 18' 33''

Tuesday, February 14: Stage 1, Al Sawadi Beach - Naseem Park, 176.5 km

Alexander Kristoff

Alexander Kristoff wins the Oman Tour's first stage.

The race: Here's the organizer's explanation of the day's racing.

A year after a first finish at Naseem Park, again, there was no stopping Alexander Kristoff. In an expected bunched sprint finish, the Norwegian beat Italians Sbaragli and Colbrelli to the line to capture his fifth stage success on the Tour of Oman. A fine day for the Katusha squad that had worked hard to control the five escapees of the day, before their sprinter delivered the goods on the final straight while one of the other favourites of the day, Tom Boonen hit the ground, thankfully not too badly. Kristoff becomes the first leader of this 8th edition of the race and will be wearing the Red Jersey for tomorrow's stage 2.

The sun came out just in time for the start of stage 1 of the Tour of Oman as the 143 riders gathered by the picturesque Sawadi Beach. On the menu: 176.5 kms of flat roads for a long loop before returning towards the coast and heading to Naseem Park, just west of Muscate. After only three kilometres of this 8th edition, five men managed to break away from the pack: Warbasse (ABS), De Gendt (SVB), Marangoni (NIP), Fonzi (WIL) and Masson (WVA). Not too concerned by this early break, the pack took it easy and the gap grew to 3'30'' at km 20.

At the first intermediate sprint (km 81.5) claimed by De Gendt ahead of Fonzi and Warbasse, the pack had moved closer, still remaining 2'25 adrift. The second bonus sprint (km 49) was again won by De Gendt ahead of Fonzi while the pack was 1'20 behind. Guaranteed to capture the most aggressive rider's jersey at the end of the day, De Gendt decided to stop his effort at km 146. Fonzi also called it quits leaving three men in the lead with a 1'05 advantage and 25kms to go.

As the pack moved closer to the leaders, a crash occurred sending several riders to the ground including promising Frenchman Guillaume Martin (WGG). Thankfully they all managed to move back in the peloton. With 10kms to go, the front three only had a 10'' advantage and were eventually caught minutes later. While all the big sprinting teams moved towards the front of the pack, stage contender Sonny Colbrelli (TBM) suffered a puncture. It took the Italian and his Bahrain-Merida team mates a big effort to move back in the pack for the final bunched sprint.

On the final long straight, drama occurred as Tom Boonen (QST) was sent to the ground, thankfuly not too badly hurt but bidding farewell to a possible win. Like a year ago at Naseem Park, finish of the 3rd day in 2016, there was no stopping Alexander Kristoff. Victorious of a stage at L'Etoile de Bessèges this season, the Norwegian captures a second success this season beating Kristian Sbaragli (DDD) and Colbrelli to the line.

Thanks to his fifth victory in Oman, Kristoff conquers the overall leader's Red Jersey. He leads the GC with a 4'' advantage over Sbaragli and 6'' over Colbrelli, and also claims the points classification leadership. Despite being caught by the pack in the final moments of the day, Aimé De Gendt can be satisfied, not only with the Most Aggressive riders' jersey, but also with the lead of the best young riders' standings.

Complete Results:

176.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 46.758 km/hr

1	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	3hr 46min 29sec
2	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
3	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
4	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
5	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
6	MARECZKO Jakub	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
7	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
8	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
9	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
10	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
11	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
12	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
13	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
14	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
15	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
16	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	s.t.
17	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
18	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	s.t.
19	WALSCHEID Maximilian	SUNWEB	s.t.
20	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
21	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
22	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
23	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	s.t.
24	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
25	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	s.t.
26	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
27	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
28	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
29	SINKELDAM Ramon	SUNWEB	s.t.
30	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
31	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
32	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
33	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
34	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
35	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
36	HERMANS Ben	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
37	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
38	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
39	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
40	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
41	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
42	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	s.t.
43	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
44	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
45	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
46	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
47	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
48	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
49	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
50	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
51	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
52	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
53	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
54	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
55	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
56	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
57	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
58	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
59	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
60	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
61	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	s.t.
62	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
63	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
64	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
65	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
66	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
67	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
68	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
69	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
70	KUENG Stefan	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
71	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
72	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
73	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
74	TEUNISSEN Mike	SUNWEB	s.t.
75	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
76	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
77	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
78	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
79	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
80	SCHÄR Michael	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
81	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
82	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
83	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
84	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
85	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
86	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
87	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
88	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
89	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
90	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
91	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
92	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
93	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
94	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	s.t.
95	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
96	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
97	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
98	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	SUNWEB	s.t.
99	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
100	ELMIGER Martin	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
101	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
102	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
103	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	s.t.
104	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
105	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
106	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
107	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
108	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
109	OSS Daniel	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
110	ENGER Sondre Holst	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
111	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
112	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
113	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
114	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
115	STAMSNIJDER Tom	SUNWEB	s.t.
116	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
117	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
118	CURVERS Roy	SUNWEB	s.t.
119	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
120	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
121	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
122	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
123	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
124	DE BACKER Bert	SUNWEB	s.t.
125	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
126	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 00' 54''
127	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 00' 56''
128	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 00' 00''
129	WAEYTENS ZICO	SUNWEB	+ 01' 09''
130	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
131	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 23''
132	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	+ 00' 00''
133	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
134	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	s.t.
135	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 39''
136	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 01' 58''
137	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 02' 27''
138	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	+ 00' 00''
139	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 03' 14''
140	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 03' 26''
141	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 04' 01''
142	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 04' 03''
143	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 08' 45''

GC after Stage 1:

1	KRISTOFF Alexander	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	3hr 46min 19sec
2	SBARAGLI Kristian	DIMENSION DATA	@ 4sec
3	DEGENDT Aimé	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
4	COLBRELLI Sonny	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 00' 06''
5	FONZI Giuseppe	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
6	WARBASSE Lawrence	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 00' 09''
7	MARANGONI Alan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
8	HANSEN Lasse Norman	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 00' 10''
9	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
10	MARECZKO Jakub	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
11	JANS Roy	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
12	GIRAUD BENJAMIN	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
13	MODOLO Sacha	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
14	BELLETTI Manuel	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
15	KUMP Marko	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
16	GROSU Eduard Michael	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
17	VAN LERBERGHE Bert	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
18	LUTSENKO Alexey	ASTANA	s.t.
19	BLYTHE Adam	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
20	ZEITS Andrey	ASTANA	s.t.
21	NAPOLITANO Danilo	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
22	TERPSTRA Niki	QUICK STEP	s.t.
23	WALSCHEID Maximilian	SUNWEB	s.t.
24	MORKOV Michael	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
25	LAMPAERT Yves	QUICK STEP	s.t.
26	HAAS Nathan	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
27	FUGLSANG Jakob	ASTANA	s.t.
28	KUREK Adrian	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
29	ARU Fabio	ASTANA	s.t.
30	DEBESAY Mekseb	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
31	FARIA Rui Alberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
32	THOMSON Jay Robert	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
33	SINKELDAM Ramon	SUNWEB	s.t.
34	ACEVEDO Janier Alexis	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
35	KUDUS Merhawi	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
36	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
37	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
38	ANDRIATO Rafael	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
39	HERMANS Ben	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
40	VISCONTI Giovanni	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
41	ARREDONDO Julian	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
42	REGUIGUI Youcef	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
43	VAN HECKE Preben	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
44	NAESEN Oliver	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
45	DE LA CRUZ David	QUICK STEP	s.t.
46	EATON Daniel	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
47	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
48	LAAS Martin	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
49	FRANK Mathias	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
50	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
51	STEELS Stijn	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
52	BARDET Romain	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
53	SAMOILAU Branislau	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
54	ALLEGAERT Piet	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
55	CATAFORD Alexander	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
56	KANGERT Tanel	ASTANA	s.t.
57	LEVARLET Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
58	DE PLUS Laurens	QUICK STEP	s.t.
59	TAARAMÄE Rein	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
60	JONES Christopher	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
61	VAN GESTEL Dries	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
62	MIHAYLOV Nikolay	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
63	JUNGELS Bob	QUICK STEP	s.t.
64	SPENGLER Lukas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
65	VAN AVERMAET Greg	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
66	DOMONT Axel	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
67	PARDINI Olivier	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
68	MANNION Gavin	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
69	STOSZ Patryk	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
70	ZURLO Federico	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
71	KACZMAREK Jakub	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
72	KUENG Stefan	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
73	AGNOLI Valerio	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
74	HABEAUX Gregory	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
75	PEYSKENS DIMITRI	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
76	TEUNISSEN Mike	SUNWEB	s.t.
77	DOUBEY Fabien	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
78	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
79	NORRIS Lachlan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
80	MARTIN Guillaume	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
81	BAGDONAS Gediminas	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
82	SCHÄR Michael	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
83	STASSEN Julien	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
84	PEARSON Daniel	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
85	FRANKINY Kilian	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
86	KOSHEVOY Ilia	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
87	DERUETTE Thomas	WB VERANCLASSIC	s.t.
88	RODRIGUEZ John Anderson	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
89	POZZATO Filippo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
90	MOSCA Jacopo	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
91	CLARKE Jonathan	UNITEDHEALTHCARE	s.t.
92	HOLLENSTEIN Reto	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
93	MORTON Lachlan David	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
94	STENUIT Robin	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
95	STALNOV Nikita	ASTANA	s.t.
96	FOMINYKH Daniil	ASTANA	s.t.
97	GOUGEARD Alexis	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
98	FENN Andrew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
99	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh	SUNWEB	s.t.
100	MARCATO Marco	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
101	ELMIGER Martin	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
102	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
103	CHRISTIAN Mark	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
104	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar	ASTANA	s.t.
105	WANG Meiyin	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	s.t.
106	KUBOKI Kazushige	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
107	FARRAR Tyler	DIMENSION DATA	s.t.
108	SISR Frantisek	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
109	NOPPE Christophe	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	s.t.
110	OSS Daniel	BMC RACING TEAM	s.t.
111	ENGER Sondre Holst	AG2R LA MONDIALE	s.t.
112	HALLER Marco	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
113	DIAZ Daniel	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
114	BRAMMEIER Matthew	AQUA BLUE SPORT	s.t.
115	CANOLA Marco	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
116	STAMSNIJDER Tom	SUNWEB	s.t.
117	HUPOND Thierry	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM	s.t.
118	KREDER Wesley	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
119	CURVERS Roy	SUNWEB	s.t.
120	DE HAES Kenny	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	s.t.
121	BAGIOLI Nicola	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	s.t.
122	BIERMANS Jenthe	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
123	CECCHIN Alberto	WILIER TRIESTINA	s.t.
124	DE BACKER Bert	SUNWEB	s.t.
125	FERRARI Roberto	UAE ABU DHABI	s.t.
126	PONZI Simone	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
127	BOONEN Tom	QUICK STEP	s.t.
128	KEISSE Iljo	QUICK STEP	s.t.
129	CAPECCHI Eros	QUICK STEP	s.t.
130	PALUTA Michal	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE	s.t.
131	UCHIMA Kohei	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 01' 04''
132	SANTAROMITA Ivan	NIPPO-VINI FANTINI	+ 01' 06''
133	WAEYTENS ZICO	SUNWEB	+ 01' 19''
134	POLITT Nils	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	s.t.
135	BOZIC Borut	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 33''
136	BOLE Grega	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 01' 49''
137	ANTONINI Simone	WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT	+ 02' 08''
138	DENIFL Stefan	AQUA BLUE SPORT	+ 02' 37''
139	MASSON Christophe	WB VERANCLASSIC	+ 03' 24''
140	DECLERCQ Benjamin	SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE	+ 03' 36''
141	FENG Chun Kai	BAHRAIN-MERIDA	+ 04' 11''
142	HOULE Hugo	AG2R LA MONDIALE	+ 04' 13''
143	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav	KATUSHA-ALPECIN	+ 08' 55''

Start list with backnumbers, February 13, 2017:

	ASTANA PRO TEAM / KAZ
	Sporting Manager: FOFONOV Dmitriy
1	ARU Fabio
2	FOMINYKH Daniil
3	FUGLSANG Jakob
4	KANGERT Tanel
5	KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar
6	LUTSENKO Alexey
7	STALNOV Nikita
8	ZEITS Andrey
	AG2R LA MONDIALE / FRA
	Sporting managers: GOUBERT Stephane / KASPUTIS Arturas
11	BARDET Romain
12	BAGDONAS Gediminas
13	DOMONT Axel
14	ENGER Sondre Holst
15	FRANK Mathias
16	GOUGEARD Alexis
17	HOULE Hugo
18	NAESEN Oliver
	BMC RACING TEAM / USA
	Sporting Manager: PIVA Valerio
21	VAN AVERMAET Greg
22	DRUCKER Jean-Pierre
23	ELMIGER Martin
24	FRANKINY Kilian
25	HERMANS Ben
26	KUENG Stefan
27	OSS Daniel
28	SCHÄR Michael
	TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN / RUS
	Sporting Manager: SCHMIDT Torsten
31	KRISTOFF Alexander
32	BIERMANS Jenthe
33	HALLER Marco
34	HOLLENSTEIN Reto
35	KUZNETSOV Viacheslav
36	MORKOV Michael
37	POLITT Nils
38	TAARAMÄE Rein
	UAE ABU DHABI / UAE
	Sporting Manager: PEDRAZZINI Simone
41	FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto
42	AIT EL ABDIA ANNAS
43	FERRARI Roberto
44	KUMP Marko
45	MARCATO Marco
46	MIRZA ALHAMMADI YOUSIF
47	MODOLO Sacha
48	ZURLO Federico
	QUICK - STEP FLOORS / BEL
	Sporting managers: HOLM Brian / PEETERS Wilfried
51	BOONEN Tom
52	CAPECCHI Eros
53	DE LA CRUZ David
54	DE PLUS Laurens
55	JUNGELS Bob
56	KEISSE Iljo
57	LAMPAERT Yves
58	TERPSTRA Niki
	TEAM DIMENSION DATA / RSA
	Sporting managers: ALDAG Rolf / HEYNDERRICKX Jean-Pierre
61	KUDUS Merhawi
62	DEBESAY Mekseb
63	FARRAR Tyler
64	HAAS Nathan
65	MORTON Lachlan David
66	REGUIGUI Youcef
67	SBARAGLI Kristian
68	THOMSON Jay Robert
	AQUA BLUE SPORT / IRL
	Sporting managers: BARRY TIM / SORENSEN Nicki
71	BLYTHE Adam
72	BRAMMEIER Matthew
73	CHRISTIAN Mark
74	DENIFL Stefan
75	FENN Andrew
76	HANSEN Lasse Norman
77	PEARSON Daniel
78	WARBASSE Lawrence
	TEAM SUNWEB / GER
	Sporting Manager: REEF Marc
81	ANDERSEN Søren Kragh
82	CURVERS Roy
83	DE BACKER Bert
84	SINKELDAM Ramon
85	STAMSNIJDER Tom
86	TEUNISSEN Mike
87	WAEYTENS ZICO
88	WALSCHEID Maximilian
	BAHRAIN - MERIDA / BRN
	Sporting managers: HOFFMAN Tristan / MAUDUIT Philippe
91	VISCONTI Giovanni
92	AGNOLI Valerio
93	BOLE Grega
94	BOZIC Borut
95	COLBRELLI Sonny
96	FENG Chun Kai
97	GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam
98	WANG Meiyin
	SPORT VLAANDEREN - BALOISE / BEL
	Sporting managers: DE CLERCQ Hans / MISSOTTEN Andy
101	VAN HECKE Preben
102	ALLEGAERT Piet
103	DEGENDT Aimé
104	DECLERCQ Benjamin
105	NOPPE Christophe
106	STEELS Stijn
107	VAN GESTEL Dries
108	VAN LERBERGHE Bert
	WANTY - GROUPE GOBERT / BEL
	Sporting Manager: DE NEEF Steven
111	ANTONINI Simone
112	DE HAES Kenny
113	DOUBEY Fabien
114	KREDER Wesley
115	LEVARLET Guillaume
116	MARTIN Guillaume
117	NAPOLITANO Danilo
118	STENUIT Robin
	UNITEDHEALTHCARE / USA
	Sporting managers: REDANT Hendrik / ALEXANDRE Sebastien
121	ACEVEDO CALLE Janier Alexis
122	CATAFORD Alexander
123	CLARKE Jonathan
124	EATON Daniel
125	HAEDO Lucas Sebastian
126	JONES Christopher
127	MANNION Gavin
128	NORRIS Lachlan
	NIPPO - VINI FANTINI / ITA
	Sporting managers: GIULIANI Stefano / TEBALDI Valerio
131	ARREDONDO MORENO Julian
132	BAGIOLI Nicola
133	CANOLA Marco
134	GROSU Eduard Michael
135	KUBOKI Kazushige
136	MARANGONI Alan
137	SANTAROMITA Ivan
138	UCHIMA Kohei
	CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE / POL
	Sporting Manager: MISSAGLIA Gabriele
141	KACZMAREK Jakub
142	KUREK Adrian
143	MIHAYLOV Nikolay
144	PALUTA Michal
145	PONZI Simone
146	SAMOILAU Branislau
147	SISR Frantisek
148	STOSZ Patryk
	WILIER TRIESTINA / ITA
	Sporting Manager: AMORIELLO Luca
151	POZZATO Filippo
152	ANDRIATO Rafael
153	BELLETTI Manuel
154	CECCHIN Alberto
155	FONZI Giuseppe
156	KOSHEVOY Ilia
157	MARECZKO Jakub
158	MOSCA Jacopo
	DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM / FRA
	Sporting Manager: PIZIKS Arvis
161	DIAZ Daniel
162	FERNANDEZ CRUZ Delio
163	GIRAUD BENJAMIN
164	HUPOND Thierry
165	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjorn
166	LAAS Martin
167	RODRIGUEZ SALAZAR John Anderson
	WB VERANCLASSIC AQUALITY PROTECT / BEL
	Sporting managers: AMORISON Frederic / BRANDT Christophe
171	JANS Roy
172	DERUETTE Thomas
173	HABEAUX Gregory
174	MASSON Christophe
175	PARDINI Olivier
176	PEYSKENS DIMITRI
177	SPENGLER Lukas
178	STASSEN Julien

2017 Tour of Oman (HC)

8th edition: February 14 - February 19, 2017

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