Andersen wins stage 3 of Tour of Oman

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Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) claimed the Tour of Oman’s second uphill finish on stage 3 of the race with the 22-year-old beating Rui Costa (Team UAE Abu Dhabi) and race leader Ben Hermans (BMC Racing) to the line in Quriyat.

The Dane, who won the white jersey in last year’s Tour of Qatar, timed his sprint for the line perfectly after a number of late attacks had been reeled in by the bunch.

The stage had been marked by a six-man break that formed in the early kilometres after a frantic start.

Matthew Brammeier (Aqua Blue Sport), Chun Kai Feng (Bahrain Merida), Bert Van Lerberghe (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise), Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare), Kazushige Kuboki (Nippo - Vini Fantini), and Frantisek Sisr (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) all made it into the move with the group establishing a 3:45 lead after 25 kilometres of racing.

As the race wound towards the coast and the sun broke through the cloud cover, the gap extended to just over four minutes as BMC Racing set tempo on the front of the peloton.

At the summit of Bousher Al Amerat it was Kuboki who took the maximum number of climbing points, but a slight headwind after the climb began hamper the leaders.

With Katusha and Astana shuttling to the front to help with the chase, the gap immediately began to drop with the six out front seeing their advantage reduced to 2:15 with 50 kilometres still to race.

The final ascent may have been shallower in pitch than what the riders were faced with on stage 2, but the sprint into the final climb on stage 3 was nothing but frenetic as teams looked to position their climbers as close to the front as possible. That surge was enough to reel in the break with 15 kilometres remaining.

As the climb started, the peloton shed itself of the weakest riders and it was a resurgent Julian Arredondo (Nippo - Vini Fantini) who moved clear. The Colombian endured a difficult final season at Trek but he initially looked strong as he opened up a gap.

When Arredondo faded Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors) took up the reins but he too couldn’t hold off the late charge and the Belgian eventually crossed the line in fourth. 

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