Yep, Stage 5 & 6 can really suit Cancellara and van Poppel so why not?

I have a question, do you like the screenshots below more than ones in few previous reports? To be honest, i like this one a bit more just because of simple reason that you can easily notice what is happening and the previous method was eye-hurting and just too bright.

Probably a decisive day and stage for this Tour of Oman edition. Mountain stage with a classic " _______/ " finish. Andy is our leader here, since he's in better form than Frank. Frank will surely work for Andy on that hill.




After 3 days of start in steppes and desert, finally a start in oasis. Guys are feeling great today. Breakaway created, some strong names in it such as Grmay, Gilbert, Boswell...



As the guys were getting closer to finish, weather was worse and worse, just as it was predicted on local news.

Breakaway is caught at about 50 kilometers to go and it's now calm. But not for long, since new group of guys makes a move. This time, alot stronger group: Barguil, Gallopin, Reicenbach and Pardilla.



That was quickly neutralised by green army of An Post - Chain Reaction. These guys are aiming high today, although it's hardly believe that the current leader, Claesys can survive last hill and keep the jersey.



Now, it's the time to head the climb. Our guys are well positioned, as the Schleck brothers are the first one to come on the climb. Frank is protecting Andy here.



Quickly after that, a group of favourites managed to get an advantage over others. Schleck brothers, Froome, Van den Broeck and Betancur are there. Rogers is trying to follow from down below.



Frank did his job quickly and he dropped. Now it's 4 guys battle here. Andy looks stronger than ever in past few seasons. Does this mean he's once again in his old form? We'll see!



Guys decided to stay together until the sprint starts. Just as they entered last kilometer, Froome and Schleck started sprinting and actually made some advantage. It's getting more and more interesting!



But wow, what a move by Betancur. So explosive sprint from him and he easily managed to reduce the gap and he's now in lead. Only few meters until the finish. Who's going to get this?



Carlos gets the win thanks to his great acceleration ability, in front of Chris and Andy. Van den Broeck is few tens of meters down the road and he'll surely get the different time.



Pretty good result from Andy which surely promises successful season for one of most promising talents back in 2007-2008.

1	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	3h20'09
2	Chris Froome	Team Sky	s.t.
3	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 14
4	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Lotto Belisol	+ 38
5	Chris Horner	Lampre - Merida	+ 1'47
6	Michael Rogers	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
7	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
8	Samuel Sánchez	BMC Racing Team	+ 2'38
9	Pieter Weening	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
10	Sergio Pardilla	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 3'02

1	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	14h18'25
2	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 8
3	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 26
4	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Lotto Belisol	+ 58
5	Michael Rogers	Tinkoff - Saxo	+ 2'07
6	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
7	Chris Horner	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
8	Samuel Sánchez	BMC Racing Team	+ 2'58
9	Pieter Weening	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
10	Sergio Pardilla	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 3'22

Thanks for support guys. Andy did great job to grab that 3rd place, although it could've been a bit better with other tactic but it's too late to talk about that.

And we're now in front of the Tour of Oman's 5th stage, the last one that can change something in GC actually. Schleck will try something definitely, but Cancellara, as a guy far down in GC, will try to get the win.




Breakaway was once again created when the weather was okay and that was good sign for them. No big stars in it, except maybe Annacona, who's surely the best rider there.



It was expected that peloton give break big advantage, since the leaders got already big gap that they're safe on Top.

1st climb and first problems for some teams. Peloton is literally halved and Evans/Van Garderen are back there. All of our guys main guys are at front.



Once again, as the riders were getting close to the finish, the weather was worse. That made alot of problems on these steep downhills and climbs.

Top of last climb and the situation is like this E1 (Anacona, Mate) - E2 (Sutherland) E3 (Peloton).



But not for long! Fabian Cancellara makes a move and attacks right before the downhill, 10 kilometers before finish line. Can he catch the guys from BOTD?



Few hundred meters after that, Andy Schleck, alongside Pieter Weening makes a move aswell.



The Schleck's move was neutralised quickly, since Betancur wanted a stage win here. Cancellara is still at the front. Machine is on!

The riders at front are about to enter last kilometer and Fabian is getting close and closer to them. Just below the 1km banner, Cancellara manages to catch them and he's trying to overtake them instantly.



Of course,no one had enough power to follow Swiss machine which resulted in a win from Herr Fabian! Great solo attack and win for Spartacus!



Half of minute after him, E3 group arrives with Betancur winning the sprint. Both of Schleck brothers are here, aswell as Felline is.

1	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	3h35'36
2	Romain Hardy	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.
3	Winner Anacona	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
4	Rory Sutherland	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
5	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 34
6	Chris Froome	Team Sky	s.t.
7	Rinaldo Nocentini	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
8	Pieter Weening	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.
9	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
10	Jens Keukeleire	Orica GreenEdge	s.t.

1	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	17h54'35
2	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 8
3	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 26
4	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Lotto Belisol	+ 2'23
5	Pieter Weening	Orica GreenEdge	+ 2'58
6	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	+ 3'32
7	Fränk Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 3'50
8	Jérôme Coppel	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 5'15
9	Richie Porte	Team Sky	+ 5'23
10	Sergio Pardilla	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 6'16

Thanks guys, it really was great attack from Fabian and great indication on what's going to happen in MSR and rest of Spring Classics, we hope.

Also, i hope you like this new addition called "Team News" below, just few news that are connected to team, nothing more.

As a team that always was on side of their riders, a team that made these riders what they're today, we would like to announce that Haimar Zubeldia (36), Danilo Hondo (38) and Jens Voigt (42) retires at the end of the season.

Actually, all of these guys made this decision together and all of them will continue their work in Trek Factory Racing.



Voigt said that it's finally time to focus on his family, after he gave his everything to this sport and this team. Zubeldia & Hondo added that they just feel old for all of these new youngster and that they will surely continue riding a bike, since when you once get the passion, you never lose it.


Not long after the team announced retirement of these 3 riders above, Trek FR would like to say that we're slightly finishing our negotations with MTN about these 2 riders above.



Grmay (21) and Meintjes (20) said that they're very happy about this and they can't wait to join the team, after the season finishes. Both of these riders are some sort of climbers and they will represent bright future of our Trek Cycling, said DS of Trek FR.

My first post that's not connected with report, woohoo!

But really, thanks everyone for big support. I have few problems with my internet these days, which sucks because i have 2 stories and MG team, but i am somehow managing to get everything done.

I raced last stage of ToO and i will post report soon, but i am not sure when. It might be in an hour, in a day or even in a week, but that depends on my internet connection which decides to joke with me when it's probably most important to have it. Most important info is that this will continue without any problems, once i find solution.

Hope you understand, see ya soon!

And as i finally solved my Internet problem, here's the report. I hope to continue with old (very strong and often) pace once again, but i won't promise anything for now...

And the last stage of ToO is in front of us. We don't expect anything here, except maybe van Poppel's sprint for win, if it comes to mass sprint at the end, which is less likely to happen. We'll see.




And just as stage started, the breakaway group were created by names such as Pineau, De la Cruz and few others. They look pretty strong + all of them are far behind in GC and that makes this big chance for them.



Nothing important for us happened until 2nd climb of the day. These climbs are very steep and riders with great acceleration gain some advantage quickly and that's exactly what Froome and Betancur used. They made a move there! Breakaway were still few minutes in front. Some of the guys in breakaway is going to get the stage win here.



We decided not to follow that because of a simple reason - Schleck surely can't outsprint or beat one of these 2 guys and he'll definitely finish as 3rd, so no point in loosing energy.

Betancur were a bit quicker and he managed to get few tens of meters advantage.



Meanwhile, the stage win is about to be decided at the front. De la Cruz, Pineau, Rovny and Schar all made move and halved BOTD. One of them is surely the winner of the stage.



Experienced French from IAM Cycling, Jerome Pineau easily got the win as he was the best sprinter in that group.



After him, rest of Breakaway group, Betancur and Froome arrived before peloton. In peloton's mass sprint, Kittel managed to make 'mini-win'.



And that was all for this edition of Tour of Oman. Let's take a look on stage and final rankings.

1	Jérôme Pineau	IAM Cycling	3h06'59
2	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff - Saxo	s.t.
3	David De la Cruz	Team NetApp - Endura	s.t.
4	Michael Schär	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
5	Martin Reimer	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 45
6	Bobbie Traksel	An Post - Chain Reaction	s.t.
7	Tomáš Buchá�ek	Bauknecht - Author	s.t.
8	Adam Phelan	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
9	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	+ 1'11
10	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 1'32

1	Carlos Betancur	AG2R La Mondiale	21h02'45
2	Chris Froome	Team Sky	+ 29
3	Andy Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 1'58
4	Jurgen Van den Broeck	Lotto Belisol	+ 3'55
5	Pieter Weening	Orica GreenEdge	+ 4'30
6	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	+ 5'04
7	Fränk Schleck	Trek Factory Racing	+ 5'22
8	Jérôme Coppel	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	+ 6'47
9	Richie Porte	Team Sky	+ 6'55
10	Sergio Pardilla	MTN - Qhubeka	+ 7'48