Tour of Oman: Lutsenko wins stage 2

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Defending champion Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) won stage 2 of the Tour of Oman after a late solo attack. Lutsenko won ahead of stage 1 winner Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) and Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data). Lutsenko finished three seconds clear of a charging Kristoff, with the Norwegian doing just enough to retain his race lead. The result moved Lutsenko into second overall, three seconds down, while Gibbons jumped to third overall at 12 seconds.

"It’s a really good victory for me and my team," Lutsenko said after his win.

"Last year I was third on this stage, and this year I won it, so I’m really happy. I attacked on the final climb, and then just went fast the last 5km. I looked around 2km from the finish line and had a little bit more motivation from my sports directors."

Jerome Baugnies (Want-Gobert), Lionel Taminiaux (Wallonie Bruxelles), Aritz Bagues (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias), and Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) had formed the day's early break but they were caught inside the final 20 kilometres as Astana and Greg Van Avermaet's CCC Team set a frantic pace.

The break established a lead of 3:30 after 50km of racing as overnight leader Alexander Kristoff and his UAE Team Emirates controlled the pace of the main field. On the first of a series of categorized climbs Van Hecke gobbled up the KOM points, and after 75km of racing the four-man move had 4:35 over the chasing pack.

CCC Team and Astana then moved to the front of the peloton and began to reel the leaders in. On the climb of Al Jabal Street Van Hecke went clear, with the pace too strong for a tiring Taminiaux. Van Hecke eased on the descent in order to wait for the two remaining riders from the break but the trio were eventually caught on the penultimate climb as Astana increased the pace in a bid to set up Lutsenko for the win.
 

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