Tour of Oman - Stage 2

After a surprising breakaway victory yesterday, the sprint teams are looking to not repeat the same mistake again. Bardiani should take charge of the peloton and because they have 8 riders instead of Astana’s 6 the break shouldn’t get such a big gap today.



The first few K were hectic, a lot of riders got an official gap to the peloton and even a group including Demare got some distance. Pietropolli (LAM) was the first to get a real distance. He rode solo for about 10 k’s before being caught again by the peloton at the first intermediate sprint. Zardini (TNE) won it


two groups visable infront of the peloton but soon caught by the peloton, led by Astana

It took until half way of the race to have a true breakaway. Morris (TNN), Aberasturi (EUS), Day (UHC) and Morajko (CCC) got 90 seconds when the peloton accelerated with 51 k to go.



The peloton catches the breakaway with 30 km to go when the receive the news that Kenny Elissonde from FDJ.fr has to abandon due to unknown reason from the organization. Meanwhile the first KOM sprint of today goes uncontested so Bardiani takes all the points. The intermediate sprint is contested by the main sprinters. Degenkolb beats Ciolek and Demare for the bonification seconds and points.


Degenkolb takes the intermediate sprint, while he take the final sprint aswell

On the final climb the peloton was split and most notably Elia Viviani was caught behind. 2nd in the GC and KOM leader, Feunard and Moreno was also in the group behind.



We start the downhill towards the finish and with no attacks from the climbers the sprinters are going to fight it out. Demare is being pulled Fédrigo (FDJ) and Degenkolb is being pulled Gasparotto (AST). Martinez Machado (CJR), Hanzen (BMC), Ciolek (MTN) and Ferrari (LAM) are also in front and going to fight for victory.



Degenkolb has already passed his leadout and Martinez is also coming up fast. Demare is having trouble with passing Fédrigo. Ciolek is following Martinez and Hanzen is stuck behind the FDJ duo. Ferrari isn’t keeping up with them.



It’s going to be between Degenkolb and Martinez for victory. Ciolek and Hanzen are a train behind Martinez. Demare is still having trouble getting past Fédrigo.



The victory today is for John Degenkolb though it is extremely close between him and Martinez.



Ciolek beats Hanzen for the final podium spot. Gasparotto’s leadout leaves him in 5th place while Demare isn’t able to pass Fédrigo for 6th place. Ferrari finishes 8th place. Contador beats Roche and Owniak for 9th.



Degenkolb also takes the GC, the points and the Youth Classification from Bonifazio. Fédrigo leads the KOM classification. The organistion decides to award Cyclingteam De Rijke with the provisional team rankings lead.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	3h08'57
2	Ricardo Martinez Machado	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
3	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
4	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
5	Enrico Gasparotto	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
6	Pierrick Fédrigo	FDJ.fr	s.t.
7	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	s.t.
8	Roberto Ferrari	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
9	Alberto Contador	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
10	Nicolas Roche	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	6h30'09
2	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	s.t.
3	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 14
4	Ricardo Martinez Machado	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
5	Pyroli Feunard	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	43
2	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	31
3	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	30
4	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	28
5	Ricardo Martinez Machado	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	28

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Pierrick Fédrigo	FDJ.fr	6
2	Filippo Baggio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	6
3	Francisco Javier Moreno	Team Champion System	5
4	Enrico Gasparotto	Astana Pro Team	4
5	Elia Favilli	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	4

Rank	Team	General Time
17	Cyclingteam De Rijke - Shanks	19h31'45 (1)
12	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 0 (2)
3	Team Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 0 (3)
8	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 0 (4)
7	Katusha Team	+ 0 (5)

Rank	Name	Team	General Time
1	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	6h30'09 (1)
12	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	+ 0 (2)
2	Ricardo Martinez Machado	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 14 (3)
43	Pyroli Feunard	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	+ 14 (4)
4	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	+ 16 (5)