Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) won his second consecutive Tour of Oman, dominating the race after winning three of the six stages. Second overall was Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida), with third going to Jesus Herrada (Cofidis). Giacomo Nizzolo (Dimension Data) won the final sprint stage on the Matrah Corniche, beating Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) and Davide Ballerini (Astana). Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) crashed during the stage and was unable to finish. Lutsenko set up his repeat victory by winning three of the four climbing stages. It was an emotional victory for the Kazakhstani national champion after he revealed his wife suffered a miscarriage in December. ADVERTISEMENT He moved up to second in overall classification on stage 2, soloing in to win by a few seconds. The Kazakh rider took control the next day, attacking again on the final climb. The win was enough to put him in the race lead by 18 seconds. He then set-up overall victory with a third win on the Green Mountain finish. He led the charge up the climb along with Pozzovivo and Herrada, ultimately dropping his two companions and catching the sole survivor of the day's break group only 100 metres before the finish line The closing stage of 133.5 km, while mostly flat and suited to the sprinters, featured two short but steep climbs in the middle third, before heading to a fast and furious loop along the bay and a slightly downhill run to the finish line. Only six kilometres into the stage, Nathan Van Hooydonck (CCC Team) took off for his second break of the race. By 20km, the move had been established, with Stijn Vandenbergh (AG2R La Mondiale), Alexis Guerin (Delko-Marseille Provence) and Adam de Vos (Rally-UHC) having joined him. They built up a gap of nearly three and a half minutes before a determined chase and crosswinds combined to bring the lead down to around two minutes.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article
