Tour of Oman: Froome takes stage five

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Chris Froome (Team Sky) set up overall victory at the Tour of Oman after beating Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) to win stage five.

The Kenyan-born Briton was in no mood to give away the stage victory after Contador had launched several attacks on the late climbs of the stage. Froome led out the sprint into a headwind and had the speed and power to hold off Contador who was coming from behind. Rodriguez was third a few bike lengths behind.

A chase group containing Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) and five other riders finished four seconds back. However Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) had a bad day, finishing 34 seconds down, while Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) worked for Froome during the stage and finished 8:07 behind.

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Froome now leads Contador by 27 seconds, with Evans third at 39 seconds. With just Saturday's final stage to the Muscat Corniche left to race, Froome looks set to win his first ever stage race as a professional and confirm his credentials as Team Sky's leader for the Tour de France.

It is still the start of the season and Froome's rivalry with Contador will surely produce lots more scintillating racing before July. Froome showed his Tour de France ability in 2012 but his performance in Oman and his beating of Contador, Evans and Nibali, has confirmed him as one of the favourites to win the yellow jersey in July.

"My goal today was just to make sure there wasn't any time lost to him (Contador) and just go straight into defence mode if he did attack, and then try and just keep them at bay," Froome explained as he rode the rollers to help his recovery.

"The climb was extremely hard. Going over it three times, from different sides each time. The last time up we were just in ones and twos, it was a lot more brutal than it looked on paper. I had in my mind that I'd always be with teammates and be able to control everything. To have it all blown to pieces on the second time up the climb, did make me feel a bit exposed."

Froome stopped to hug teammate Ritchie Porte after the stage. The Australian again played a vital role in helping Froome win and is rapidly becoming his closest lieutenant at Team Sky.

"On the second last climb Saxo Bank lit it up and took a lot of people by surprise. The bunch got blown to pieces," Froome explained.

"I was fortunate to have Ritchie Porte with me in the front group, who helped me control things up there, and set a really good tempo on the climb. We took it up from the beginning."

"Over the last climb Contador attacked. Rodriguez and I were just behind and managed to close the gap over the top. Coming down to the bottom we knew we only had a small advantage and just rolled through together. The last two kilometres were quite tactical, with lots of attacking between us.”

No gifts

Froome had thoughts about letting Contador or Rodriguez win the stage. There was no time for gifts in the heat of the battle.

"There were bonus seconds at the finish and Contador is so close to me, so I think it's understandable that it was race on there," Froome said.

"I could see the sprint was a bit of head/cross wind. I was on the front and thought I'd just start the sprint and try and finish it off. It surprised them just how much of a headwind there was and with it curving to the right, it meant they had to go the long way round."

Froome is now set to win his first professional stage race on Saturday. His last victory was stage seven of the 2012 Tour de France to La Planche des Belles Filles. His second place overall at the Tour de France behind Wiggins has projected Froome into the role of team leader for this year's race.

It is a huge responsibility but he seems to getting used to it and victory proves he can handle this first incremental increase in pressure and expectation, even in February, when perhaps he is still not at his best.

"I've never been in this position now and it's a great feeling going forward," Froome said.

"The team is doing really well. The training camps in Mallorca were a big success again for us this year and everyone has been really professional and serious during the winter, and I think it's starting to show. Cycling is changing. Guys are going a lot faster earlier in the season but I don't think any of us are at our best yet."

Saturday's final stage is over 144km. It starts on the coast south of Muscat, in the Hawit Nagam Park and then rolls through the hills before the three laps of the spectacular Muscat Corniche.

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