Tour of Oman - Stage 1

Welcome to the Tour of Oman. Like the usual races in the Middle East race, the Tour of Oman is a race with only one deciding stage. The key difference is that it’s a true mountain stage that is the deciding stage. With a number of great climbers like Alberto Contador (TTS) and Jean Christophe Peraud (ALM) at the start it will prove a great race to the top of the famous Green Mountain.



That is still far aways as we have a fair number of flat stages for the sprinters and the number of sprinters present will prove for some exiting sprint finishes. Racing with bib 1, John Degenkolb is the biggest name at the start.



The break was easily established. Zabel (TNE), Murphy (UHC), Walker (DPC), Reaetmaekers (TNN), Quintero (COL), Bonifazio (BAR) and Moreno (CSS) were the first group that got away. Two riders however decided that the break lacked some orange however and attacked short after each other. P. Feunard (CCC) and Orbe (EUS) attacked shortly after each other to complete todays break.


Oman; featuring a single road and desert

The only KOM point today was contested by Quintero as he made the first move for the line. It wasn’t Quintero however that won the KOM as Moreno outlasted Quintero to take the KOM jersey for today. The gap is 6 minutes


Moreno beating everybody else for the first “test� of strength

Unlike usual stage races the intermediate sprint were contested in the breakaway with Murphy winning the first in a close sprint and Zabel winning the second. The gap is however only 1’50� due to Astana pulling the peloton


Raeymaekers drops from the break after the first intermediate sprint

Bonifazio and Feunard try to make a miracle happen and with 2km to go they have 21 seconds, a real sprint train is lacking but we have some riders of Caja Rural and Astana in charge of the peloton. Only Bardiani’s Viviani is far back


Viviani out of the picture

Demare (FDJ) is the first to go after the two with Hanzen (BMC) on his wheel


Duque (CJR) on the right is also quick with a response

Demare is still leading the peloton but Hanzen is pulling alongside. Degenkolb was beaten by reacting to late and is racing against Ciolek and Ferrari for 3rd place. 5th if they don’t reach Bonifazio and Feunard.



Bonifazio is quick to raise his arms, he’s got Feunard beat but Demare and Hanzen are going much faster than he is



He wisely puts them down and gives that final push to secure the victory for the Italian sprinters team. … From a breakaway. Feunard holds on to just 2nd place while Demare beats Hanzen for 3rd place. Degenkolb, Ciolek and Ferrari make for places 5th, 6th and 7th. Caja Rural is probably happy with their 8th place by Martinez Machado while newcomer Drapac finish 9th with Leigh. Astana gets bonus points Bozic in 10th place.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	3h21'38
2	Pyroli Feunard	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.
3	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	s.t.
4	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
5	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
6	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.
7	Roberto Ferrari	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
8	Ricardo Martinez Machado	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
9	Matt Leigh	Drapac Cycling	s.t.
10	Borut Božic	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	3h21'12
2	Pyroli Feunard	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	+ 14
3	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	+ 18
4	John Murphy	UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team	+ 20
5	Rick Zabel	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
6	Francisco Javier Moreno	Team Champion System	+ 22
7	Duber Quintero	Colombia	+ 24
8	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	+ 26
9	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10	Gerald Ciolek	MTN - Qhubeka	s.t.

Rank	Name	Team	General
1	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	31
2	Pyroli Feunard	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	20
3	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	16
4	Adrien Hanzen	BMC Racing Team	14
5	John Degenkolb	Astana Pro Team	12

Rank	Name	Team	Mountain	General
1	Francisco Javier Moreno	Team Champion System	5	5
2	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	3	3
3	John Murphy	UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team	1	1

Rank	Team	Time	General Time
1	Astana Pro Team	10h04'54	10h04'54 (1)
2	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	s.t.	+ 0 (2)
3	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.	+ 0 (3)

Rank	Name	Team	Time	General Time
1	Niccolo Bonifazio	Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox	3h21'38	3h21'12 (1)
2	Pyroli Feunard	CCC Polsat - Polkowice	s.t.	+ 14 (2)
3	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	s.t.	+ 18 (3)