Kristoff crashes out of Tour of Oman finale with deep arm wound
21 February 2019 12:29
Alexander Kristoff was targeting a second successive win on the Mattrah Corniche on the final stage of the Tour of Oman, and hoping to book-end his 2019 race on a winning note. However the UAE Team Emirates sprinter was unable to finish the race after a heavy crash left him with deep lacerations on his arm and knee. The crash occurred with just over 50km of the largely flat stage remaining, and affected a chunk of the peloton, including second-placed Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida), who was able to remount and finish despite significant road rash. Kristoff didn't get off so lightly and immediately exited the race with blood flowing from his left arm and knee.ADVERTISEMENT "We went through a big town before and there was a big fight. I don’t really know why there was a such a big fight because it was still quite far to the finish," Kristoff told Cyclingnews after the wounds had been patched up. "I was actually trying to take it a little easy because I didn't see the reason to fight, so I was sitting in the last part of the pack. Then the crash happened in the middle. I was on the right side and the crash moved from the middle to the right, unfortunately for me – if it had moved to the left I would have been fine. "I almost managed to brake, but then I hit a bike and crashed over into a pile of people and bikes and then I think I hit a lot of equipment, because it didn't hurt so bad but I cut myself really bad. So for sure I went into the bikes and cut myself on something on the bikes." On to the UAE Tour
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