Rider top 20

1	Alejandro Valverde	Spain	Movistar Team	560
2	Peter Sagan	Slovakia	BORA - hansgrohe	510
3	Miguel Angel Lopez	Colombia	Astana Pro Team	385
4	Daryl Impey	South-Africa	Mitchelton-Scott	320
5	Michael Albasini	Switzerland	Mitchelton-Scott	300
6	Magnus Cort Nielsen	Denmark	Astana Pro Team	270
7	Petr Vakoc	Czech-Republic	Deceuninck-Quick Step	250
8	Michal Kwiatkowski	Poland	Team Sky	235
9	Bjorg Lambrecht	Belgium	Lotto Soudal	215
10	Diego Rosa	Italy	Team Sky	175
11	Sonny Colbrelli	Italy	Bahrain - Merida	150
12	Gianluca Brambilla	Italy	Trek - Segafredo	150
13	Enrico Gasparotto	Italy	Team Dimension Data	125
14	Lilian Calmejane	France	Direct Energie	115
15	Mark Cavendish	United-Kingdom	Team Dimension Data	105
16	Julian Alaphilippe	France	Deceuninck-Quick Step	100
17	Dylan Teuns	Belgium	Bahrain - Merida	85
18	Chris Froome	United-Kingdom	Team Sky	75
19	Robert Gesink	Netherlands	Team Jumbo-Visma	75
20	Luis León Sánchez	Spain	Astana Pro Team	70

Astana Top 10

3	Miguel Angel Lopez	Colombia	385
6	Magnus Cort Nielsen	Denmark	270
20	Luis León Sánchez	Spain	70
21	Gorka Izagirre	Spain	70
88	Omar Fraile	Spain	5
91	Alexey Lutsenko	Kazakhstan	5
93	Yevgeniy Gidich	Kazakhstan	5
94	Jan Hirt	Czech-Republic	5

TEAM TOP 20:

1	Astana Pro Team	815
2	Movistar Team	680
3	Mitchelton-Scott	640
4	BORA - hansgrohe	600
5	Team Sky	575
6	Deceuninck-Quick Step	389
7	Bahrain - Merida	312
8	Lotto Soudal	300
9	Team Dimension Data	299
10	Trek - Segafredo	200
11	Ag2r La Mondiale	194
12	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	122
13	Direct Energie	115
14	Team Jumbo-Visma	113
15	UAE Team Emirates	95
16	Team Katusha- Alpecin	94
17	Team Sunweb	85
18	Groupama - FDJ	60
19	CCC Team	52
20	Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec	25

Riders Top 20

1	Daryl Impey	South-Africa	Mitchelton-Scott	425
2	Magnus Cort Nielsen	Denmark	Astana Pro Team	349
3	Alejandro Valverde	Spain	Movistar Team	293
4	Peter Sagan	Slovakia	BORA - hansgrohe	277
5	Miguel Angel Lopez	Colombia	Astana Pro Team	186
6	Nicolas Roche	Ireland	Team Sunweb	180
7	Michael Albasini	Switzerland	Mitchelton-Scott	172
8	Bjorg Lambrecht	Belgium	Lotto Soudal	145
9	Michal Kwiatkowski	Poland	Team Sky	136
10	Petr Vakoc	Czech-Republic	Deceuninck-Quick Step	135
11	Patrick Bevin	New-Zealand	CCC Team	120
12	Diego Rosa	Italy	Team Sky	110
13	Sonny Colbrelli	Italy	Bahrain - Merida	104
14	Gianluca Brambilla	Italy	Trek - Segafredo	99
15	Patrick Konrad	Austria	BORA - hansgrohe	96
16	Nico Denz	Germany	Ag2r La Mondiale	93
17	Enrico Gasparotto	Italy	Team Dimension Data	91
18	Raymond Kreder	Netherlands	Team Ukyo	91
19	Jack Haig	Australia	Mitchelton-Scott	87
20	Adam Hansen	Australia	Lotto Soudal	86

Astana Top 10

2	Magnus Cort Nielsen	Denmark
5	Miguel Angel Lopez	Colombia
35	Luis León Sánchez	Spain
47	Gorka Izagirre	Spain
75	Omar Fraile	Spain
99	Dario Cataldo	Italy
154	Jan Hirt	Czech-Republic
169	Artyom Zakharov	Kazakhstan
186	Jonas Gregaard Wilsly	Denmark
211	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Estonia
229	Hernando Bohórquez	Colombia

TEAM TOP 20:

1	Mitchelton-Scott	938
2	Astana Pro Team	726
3	Team Sunweb	512
4	Team Sky	509
5	BORA - hansgrohe	449
6	Movistar Team	408
7	Lotto Soudal	368
8	Bahrain - Merida	339
9	CCC Team	335
10	Deceuninck-Quick Step	319
11	Team Dimension Data	282
12	Team Katusha- Alpecin	276
13	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	266
14	Ag2r La Mondiale	264
15	Trek - Segafredo	235
16	UAE Team Emirates	220
17	Team Ukyo	138
18	Team BridgeLane	133
19	EvoPro Racing	115
20	Team Jumbo-Visma	111

Stage 3:

The stage is completely flat, the five riders in the morning break was caught very early, leaving room for some attempts over the final 70 km, but it came to the mass sprint.

1	Fabio Jakobsen	Deceuninck-Quick Step	3h22'12
2	Jakub Mareczko	CCC Team	s.t.
3	Roger Kluge	Lotto Soudal	s.t.

Stage 4:
On paper another flat stage, but most of the final 3.5 km uphill at 2,5-3,5% expect the last few 100 meters which is slightly downhill.

The break never get interesting as the peloton don’t allow any serious gap and no threat to the KoM either.

Astana neither well positioned nor aggressive in the final, best was Luis León Sánchez 12th, no important rider lost time.

1	Roger Kluge	Lotto Soudal	4h06'09
2	Edward Theuns	Trek - Segafredo	s.t.
3	Mark Renshaw	Team Dimension Data	s.t.

Stage 5:
Besides the Time Trail, this is the King Stage, a semi mountain stage with uphill finish


A larger morning breakaway of 9 rider, but as some of them are within 30� unlikely that they will beat the peloton, it is over with 45 km left. After that the only rider to attempt an attack from the distance was Omar Fraile (Astana) but he was reeled in without getting much lead.

11 riders reach the final kilometer together, Daryl Impey takes another win.

Stage:

1	Daryl Impey	Mitchelton-Scott	5h15'10
2	Toms Skujins	Trek - Segafredo	s.t.
3	Jack Haig	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.

Final Standings GC

1	Daryl Impey	Mitchelton-Scott	16h05'50
2	Jonathan Castroviejo	Team Sky	+ 8
3	Toms Skujins	Trek - Segafredo	+ 11
4	Laurens De Plus	Team Jumbo-Visma	+ 16
5	José Gonçalves	Team Katusha- Alpecin	+ 20
6	Robert Gesink	Team Jumbo-Visma	+ 21
7	Jonathan Hivert	Direct Energie	+ 22
8	Miguel Angel Lopez	Astana Pro Team	+ 23
9	Ion Izagirre	Astana Pro Team	+ 24
10	Petr Vakoc	Deceuninck-Quick Step	+ 35

Points

1

Daryl Impey

Mitchelton-Scott

71

KoM

1

Pawel Bernas

CCC Team

14

Team

1

Astana Pro Team

48h19'01

U25

1

Laurens De Plus

Team Jumbo-Visma

16h06'06

A very weak breakaway of 7 riders form at the beginning of the race. They get about 4 minutes and that will be far from enough on a profile like this. It is over with about 35 km to the line.

Astana’s race leader Andrey Zeits struggle but make it to the finish with the favorites as 23rd without losing time.

Result:

1	Julien Simon	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	3h45'28
2	Pierre-Luc Perichon	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.
3	Enrico Battaglin	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
4	Patrick Konrad	BORA - hansgrohe	s.t.
5	Jesus Herrada	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.
6	José Herrada	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.
7	Bjorg Lambrecht	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
8	Tanel Kangert	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
9	Sergey Chernetckii	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
10	Jasha Sütterlin	Movistar Team	s.t.

4 riders in the morning break caught before the only important climb about 20 km left. 8 riders break free over the top, right up to the sprint Tanel Kangert (Education First) and Gorka Izagirre had a 8-10� advantages, but was passed by better finishers close to the line. Also the peloton gets close near the end.

Result:

1	Vyacheslav Kuznetsov	Team Katusha- Alpecin	3h27'36
2	José Joaquin Rojas	Movistar Team	s.t.
3	Michael Storer	Team Sunweb	s.t.
4	Enrico Battaglin	Team Katusha- Alpecin	s.t.
5	Valerio Conti	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
6	Tanel Kangert	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
7	Gorka Izagirre	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
8	Jens Keukeleire	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
9	Moreno Hofland	EF Education First p/b Cannondale	s.t.
10	Matteo Malucelli	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.

1	Sergio Henao	UAE Team Emirates	18'44"
2	Egan Bernal	Team Sky	+ 17"
3	Esteban Chaves	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 18"

Astanas only rider Hernando Bohórquez came 39th +2’22�




It is an undulated sort of classic hilly Road Race, but with the hills not too hard.
5 riders in the breakaway, others attempt to join also the two weaker Astana riders Hernando Bohórquez and Rodrigo Contreras, but they just use a lot of energy without getting to the front.

Miguel Angel Lopez stays with the other favourites right to the finish, but out of position before the final uphill kick, he end up 12th despite the fact that we was looking strong.

Esteban Cháves attacks at the right moment becoming Colombian National Champion

1	Esteban Cháves	Mitchelton-Scott	4h45'12
2	Wilmar Paredes	Manzana - Postobon Team	s.t.
3	Sergio Luis Henao	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.

7 riders form the early breakaway gaining a lead of about 3 minutes, but as soon as the route gets tougher about mid stage they lost time fast and it over with 31 km left.
63 riders together for the final sprint.

1	Aksel Nömmela	Cycling Team Wallonie-Bruxelles	3h41'20
2	Magnus Cort Nielsen	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
3	Jérôme Cousin	Direct Energie	s.t.
4	Niccolo Bonifazio	Direct Energie	s.t.
5	Ben Swift	Team Sky	s.t.
6	Dario Cataldo	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
7	Antonio Pedrero	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Eduardo Sepulveda	Movistar Team	s.t.
9	Pavel Sivakov	Team Sky	s.t.
10	Warren Barguil	Arkéa - Samsic	s.t.

Stage 1:
A typical sprinter stage on an almost flat route with a few short climbs, a break of 4 four riders gather after the usual morning turmoil. Even though the route is easy two climbs catagorited as cat 2, Tony Hurel (Auber) takes the KoM lead.

The breakaway fools the peloton today, Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen) wins from the break, the peloton loses 1'06�. Astana has no impact on the race today.

1	Preben Van Hecke	Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise	3h18'33
2	Thomas Vaubourzeix	Natura4Ever - Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
3	Tony Hurel	St Michel - Auber 93	s.t.

Stage 2:
Another sprinter stage, again with two very easy cat.2 climbs to break the monotony.

Six riders in the breakaway, Nans Peters takes 18 points and shares the KoM lead with Tony Hurel, the peloton more cautious today and the race was won in a close mass sprint.
Astana best Davide Ballerini 7th.

1	Peter Sagan	BORA - hansgrohe	3h28'08
2	Alvaro Hodeg	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
3	Nacer Bouhanni	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.

Stage 3:
The profile is a bit harder today with an early, though fairly easy cat.1. But it is a sprinter stage. 5 riders in the break, Francisco Ventoso (CCC) takes 26 points to become new KoM leader.

Mass sprint finish, Sagan again

1	Peter Sagan	BORA - hansgrohe	4h01'33
2	Edward Theuns	Trek - Segafredo	s.t.
3	Niccolo Bonifazio	Direct Energie	s.t.

Stage 4:
Although it is on paper another flat stage, the profile undulated near the finish which is also slightly up hill.

We get a huge breakaway of 17 riders, but they never get a decisive gap and are not a threat to the KoM either.

Astana’s Davide Ballerini has great legs and stays with the sprinters today coming 4th on the stage. Also Hugo Houle within the 18 riders in the reduced sprint, peloton come in at +45�

1	Peter Sagan	BORA - hansgrohe	3h58'37
2	Ben Swift	Team Sky	s.t.
3	Edward Theuns	Trek - Segafredo	s.t.

Stage 5:
The final stage is an ITT, just 9.2 km long but the final 1.5 km with very steep slopes favoring climbers rather than tempo riders.

Astana’s Andrey Zeits had a great day today, coming in as 2nd best and finishing as 5th, but starting the stage at +2’03 he is not an overall contender.

Romain Bardet wins the stage.

1	Romain Bardet	Ag2r La Mondiale	14'08"
2	Damien Howson	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 7
3	Pierre Latour	Ag2r La Mondiale	+ 11

Even though the three riders that took time on the opening stage did not do that well today, it was enough for Thomas Vaubourzeix to win the GC and Preben Van Hecke to come 4th overall. Only Tony Hurel losing 2’03� today did not make top ten overall

Final Standings GC

1	Thomas Vaubourzeix	Natura4Ever - Roubaix Lille Métropole	15h02'04
2	Damien Howson	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 8
3	Peter Sagan	BORA - hansgrohe	+ 12
3	Pierre Latour	Ag2r La Mondiale	+ 25
4	Preben Van Hecke	Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise	+ 27
5	Christopher Juul Jensen	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 35
6	Gianni Moscon	Team Sky	+ 36
8	Mads Pedersen	Trek - Segafredo	+ 37
9	Alexis Gougeard	Ag2r La Mondiale	+ 38
10	Ben Swift	Team Sky	+ 41

Points

1

Peter Sagan

BORA - hansgrohe

82

KoM

1

Francisco Ventoso

CCC Team

26

Team
1 Mitchelton-Scott 45h08'04

U25

1

Gianni Moscon

Team Sky

15h02'39

Stage 1: Nizwa – Sultan Qaboos University 162 km
The stage is a relative flat route with the last 90 km or so slightly downhill most of the time.
With no KoM climbs today the 6 rider breakaway just getting some TV-time before they get caught. Astana has been active in the pursuit even though they have no favourite sprinter.

It comes to the expected mass sprint, a good showdown where Andrea Guardini wins in a photo finish.

Astana’s best sprinter is Yevgeniy Gidich and he does ok coming 7th.

1	Andrea Guardini	Bardiani CSF	3h41'45
2	Heinrich Haussler	Bahrain - Merida	s.t.
3	Michael Matthews	Team Sunweb	s.t.

Stage 2: Sultan Qaboos University - Al Bustan 169 km

A bit more undulated, but on paper still a flat stage, this won’t load and was simulated.

1	Michael Matthews	Team Sunweb	3h25'26
2	Andrea Guardini	Bardiani CSF	s.t.
3	Daryl Impey	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.

Stage 3: German University of Technology – Wadi Dayqah Dam 172.5 km

The profile is harder today with the first profile categorized as hilly.



After some failed attempts a break of 7 riders, Yevgeniy Gidich (Astana) takes the early KoM, the break is slowly reduced rider by rider and over with almost 80 km left.

Yevgeniy Gidich tries again at the 2nd climb but in vain, the KoM won by Michal Golas (Team Sky), Close to the last climb with 8.5 km left Astana puts a lot of pressure on and Merhawi Kudus takes the final KoM leading the peloton.

The pace is very aggressive and when Omar Fraile opens the sprint for Gorka Izagirre everyone surrenders the stage to Astana. The race officials don’t allow a gap.

1	Gorka Izagirre	Astana Pro Team	4h14'13
2	Omar Fraile	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
3	Philippe Gilbert	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.

Stage 4: Yiti – Ministry of Tourism 110.5 km

Where yesterday’s stage categorized as hilly but relative easy, today we got a true semi-mountain profile where gabs can and most likely will change the GC.



No break was allowed to get a decisive lead over the first 40 km of the stage, Yevgeniy Gidich (Astana) constantly lurking in front of the peloton and did manage to win the first two climbs, by that taking the overnight KoM lead.

Long story short the selection came from the rear of the peloton, when 9 riders attacked over the final climb they left just 34 riders in the pursuit.

Enric Mas, Vincenzo Nibali, Adam Yates, Thibaut Pinot, Geraint Thomas, Omar Fraile, Gorka Izagirre, Esteban Cháves, Wilco Kelderman, over the line in that order, gained 46� on the peloton. With that Gorka Izagirre (Astana) took the race lead.

1	Enric Mas	Deceuninck-Quick Step	3h17'56
2	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	s.t.
3	Adam Yates	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.

Stage 5: Sama'il - Jabal Al Akhdhar 159.6 km

Today the only true mountain stage of the race, with a hard summit finish.



A breakaway of 7 riders take form over the first 30 km with some rather strong riders, the best placed riders at 3’41�, The favorite teams in the peloton keep up a persisting pace holding the distance below 3 minutes, Astana as race leader dedicated several riders. The breakaway was caught on the foot of the climb.

A hard fought climb right from the beginning. Vincenzo Nibali won in front of Esteban Cháves, they gain 16� to the other favorites. Nibali takes the race lead.

Astana lost the fight for position and came in with Omar Fraile as 16th and Gorka Izagirre as 18th, but they did not lose additional time compared to the favorite group.

1	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	4h07'45
2	Esteban Cháves	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
3	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama - FDJ	+ 16

Stage 6: Al Mouj Muscat – Matrah Corniche 132.7 km

The early breakaway forms slowly today, it ends with 7 riders getting away. Astana’s Yevgeniy Gidich is there to defend his KoM. Yevgeniy Gidich and Ian Stannard shares most of the points and Yevgeniy secures the jersey. The break is over with 13 km left.

What was looking like the usual mass sprint finish ends in complete chaos, as we get a gigantic crash right at the front of the peloton with just 5.3 km to the line.

Out of the chaos comes Andrea Guardini (Bardiani) and Michael Valgren (Dimension Data) avoiding the crash and taking advantage of the confusion, they attack and quickly build a huge gap.

The stage was won Guardini in front of Valgren with a gap of 49� down to Omar Fraile who also avoided the crash and won the peloton sprint.

1	Andrea Guardini	Bardiani CSF	3h13'24
2	Michael Valgren Andersen	Team Dimension Data	s.t.
3	Omar Fraile	Astana Pro Team	+ 49

Overall Vincenzo Nibali wins the race in front of Esteban Cháves and Omar Fraile who passed teammate Gorka Izagirre and Enric Mas due to the bonus seconds from the last stage..

Final Standings GC

1	Vincenzo Nibali	Bahrain - Merida	22h00'59
2	Esteban Cháves	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 13
3	Omar Fraile	Astana Pro Team	+ 25
4	Gorka Izagirre	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
5	Enric Mas	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
6	Adam Yates	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 31
7	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama - FDJ	s.t.
8	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	+ 33
9	Wilco Kelderman	Team Sunweb	+ 35
10	Daryl Impey	Mitchelton-Scott	+ 1'17

Points

1

Andrea Guardini

Bardiani CSF

80

KoM

1

Yevgeniy Gidich

Astana Pro Team

28

Team

1

Mitchelton-Scott

66h05'12

U25

1

Enric Mas

Deceuninck-Quick Step

22h01'24

Some notable riders on the startlist:

Sprinters

Fabio Jakobsen	Deceuninck-Quick Step
Jasper Philipsen	UAE Team Emirates
Alvaro Hodeg	Deceuninck-Quick Step
Jakub Mareczko	CCC Team
Magnus Cort Nielsen	Astana Pro Team
Edward Theuns	Trek - Segafredo
Daniel McLay	EF Education First p/b Cannondale
Nikias Arndt	Team Sunweb
Simone Consonni	UAE Team Emirates
Adam Blythe	Lotto Soudal
Matteo Malucelli	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
Justin Jules	Cycling Team Wallonie-Bruxelles
Szymon Sajnok	CCC Team
Juan Sebastián Molano	UAE Team Emirates
Vyacheslav Kuznetsov	Team Katusha- Alpecin

Other notable riders

Michael Woods	EF Education First p/b Cannondale
Mikel Landa	Movistar Team
Jakob Fuglsang	Astana Pro Team
Taylor Phinney	EF Education First p/b Cannondale
Victor Campenaerts	Lotto Soudal
Alexis Vuillermoz	Ag2r La Mondiale
Lukasz Wisniowski	CCC Team
Patrick Konrad	BORA - hansgrohe

Ian Butler wrote:
Magnus Cort Nielsen could very well sprint to the win here. Though I can see someone like Jasper Philipsen posing a serious threat.