Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) claimed overall victory and stage 5 of the 2026 Tour of Oman with a perfect performance on the brutally steep slopes up to Jabal Al Akhdhar (Green Mountain), responding to every move before eventually powering to the line in the final 100 metres.
Two-time defending champion Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) lit up the 5.7km ascent with repeated accelerations, which left race leader Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) reeling as the stage headed into the finale, but at no point was Scaroni really distanced.
Helped by a new teammate for 2026, former Arkéa-B&B Hotels racer Cristián Rodríguez, the Italian held his nerve once Schmid was dropped, only hitting out for glory as the line approached and roaring past a fading Luke Plapp, who had tried to salvage the stage for Jayco-AlUla in the final 500 metres.
To complete the perfect finale, Rodríguez also came around Plapp to make it a 1-2 on the stage and the general classification, with Yates moving up to third and the final podium spot thanks to his undying efforts.
How it unfolded
Despite there being a mostly flat route on offer before the final climb, several attacks were attempted at the start of stage 5 at the Tour of Oman, with the open roads heading out of Nizwa taking in lots of action on the 155.9km final day.
Eventually, with 111km to race, a five-man breakaway got up the road to form the day's break, although none of the riders present - Johan Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Florian Dauphin (TotalEnergies), and the Uno-X Mobility duo Frederik Dversnes Lavik and Jonas Hem Hvideberg - posed a real threat to the general classification.
Soudal-QuickStep, UAE Team Emirates and Jayco all contributed to the chase at different points, with the quintet's lead still at just over two minutes heading into the final 40km of racing on Wednesday.
Most of the break's lead was still intact when they hit the foot of the final climb to Jabal Al Akhdhar (Green Mountain) – which averages a 10.4% gradient across its 5.7 kilometres. However, Dversnes quickly proved himself to be the strongest climber, as the other four men dropped back on the steep slopes of the final ascent.
UAE and Visma-Lease a Bike paced at the front for their leaders, while the Norwegian powered on solo, but his lead was reduced to just a minute with more than 4km still to ride, and he was clearly running out of steam as the peloton closed in.
Adam Yates made the first big move as he bounced on the pedals into the final 3.5km, soon ending the breakaway with Dversnes caught and then rapidly spat out the back. By this point, race leader Schmid was able to hold the pace being set by the Briton, even if he was dropping back places and appearing to struggle.
Yates continued to lead on the front, but he couldn't create a separation, accelerating once more past the 2km-to-go barrier, with Schmid finally cracking. Four riders stuck with Yates, though, as he tried to get away: Scaroni, Rodriguez, Plapp and Nairo Quintana (Movistar).
It became clear that Yates didn't have enough road to take the GC from Scaroni, who had started just four seconds down on Schmid, and Jayco, too, had already seen their opportunity to take overall victory disappear further down the mountain.
Plapp launched early to try and surprise those alongside him, getting a small gap as he approached the barriers and final run to the line, but still Yates tried again to close him down. Using the British racer as a lead-out, Scaroni hit out for the stage and powered away to the line, confirming the GC victory ahead of his teammate Rodriguez, who finished second.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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