Gesink remembers his father with mountain victory

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Robert Gesink (Rabobank) crossed the finish line of the mountain stage of the Tour of Oman pointing to the sky as he celebrated victory and emotionally remembered his father who died last October.

Gesink finished 47 seconds ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) and so also took the race leader's red jersey. The 24-year-old Dutchman now leads the Norwegian by 44 seconds before Saturday's decisive 18.5km hilly time trial.

Dries Devenyns (Quick Step) was an unexpected third at 51 seconds and Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) was a surprise fourth at 53 seconds. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) finished fifth in the same time as the Italian champion.

Gesink needed several minutes to recover from his huge effort. He admitted it had been an emotional but very proud day for him.

"I did it for my dad," he said.

"He had a bike accident the day after last year's Giro dell'Emilia and then two weeks after he died. I had a difficult winter with my family and it was difficult to pick up cycling again but I did.

"Last month I did everything on my training schedule and a little extra because I wanted to show the world, my family and my dad first of all, that I wanted to continue racing for him. It's nice to do it when you're out here. It's really difficult but it's a really good feeling when it works out."

Gesink covered the final steep section of the climb alone, with thoughts about his father coming into his mind.

"I was afraid to think about him too much because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to continue and finish the way I did. After the finish I remembered him," he said proudly.

A hard day in the saddle

Gesink was part of the front group that formed even before the 5.8km climb of Green Mountain began. The stage had been fast from the start as the peloton refused to let any breakaways get away. A seven-rider move got away for a while but they were caught by the front group as the final climb neared.

Team Sky split the peloton with a perfectly executed move on the flat loop around Nizwa. They had all their riders in the move and then drove to the foot of the climb, meaning some overall contenders were out of the reckoning even before the climb began.

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) tried an early attack but was quickly caught on the first steep section of the climb as a select group formed and went clear, leaving race leader Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) behind.

Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky) helped Boasson Hagen close a gap on the easier mid-section but nobody had the legs to respond to Gesink when he made his final attack with two kilometres to go as the climb reared up again and went up the side of the mountain.

The finish line was midway between two hairpins and Gesink appeared around the last turn alone. He movingly pointed both hands to the sky and then one hand before being hugged and held up by the Rabobank soigneurs.

Boasson Hagen made a late surge to reduce the gap to Gesink and zigzagged his way to the finish line, such was the pain of his effort and the steep gradient.

The rest of the 126 riders left in the race came in spread out over 17 minutes. Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek) was at 2:04 after blowing in the final section of the climb, Vinokourov was at 2:17, Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) was at 3:28 and Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) was at 7:33.

Time trial decider

Overall victory will be decided in Saturday's 18.5km out and back time trial that starts and finishes at the Barr Al Jissah Resort that is the official race hotel.

In 2010 Boasson Hagen beat Fabian Cancellara by 17 seconds but Cancellara had a big enough lead to secure overall victory.

Last year's time trial consisted of the hilly roads from the hotel and then a flat fast ride to the centre of Muscat. This year the time trial covers the same climbs and fast descents in the first nine kilometres but then turns around and does it all again in the final nine kilometres. It will be a real test of time trialing and climbing ability.

Gesink appeared satisfied with his stage win and that could give Boasson Hagen, Devenyns, Vande Velde and perhaps even Visconti a chance of overall victory. Devenyns is third overall at 57 seconds, Vande Velde is fourth at 1:03 and Visconti is fifth at the same time.

"I'll do my best but it's a difficult time trial," Gesink said.

"This stage win was my big goal. I wanted to show everyone that I'm thinking about my dad. I wasn't going to try for the overall if there'd been cross winds in the earlier stages because it's early in the season and my general classification races are later on. I was lucky in the last three days that no big groups escaped and so now I'm in the lead. I'm going to celebrate this win with my team and my roommate Theo Bos and we'll see what happens in the time trial."