Yes, there is water in the desert, and some of it caused some mayhem on stage 5 of the Tour of Oman, when a large portion of the peloton crashed after hitting a flooded section of the course.
Mark Christian (Aqua Blue Sport) was the first rider to go down in the incident when the breakaway crossed the stream around 50km into the race. He was able to rejoin the leaders.
Some six minutes later, the peloton reached the same point, and while a few riders sailed through easily, a massive crash behind them stopped the majority of the peloton.
Roman Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) was one of the riders to hit the deck, but it was of no consequence. He finished 10th on the stage at Green Mountain. There was one DNF on the stage, Katusha-Alpecin's Nils Politt, but it was not clear if his exit was due to the crash.
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