Guardini strikes first at the Tour of Oman

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Andrea Guardini (Astana) took his first victory of the 2015 season at the Tour of Oman, beating Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) and Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) on the slightly uphill sprint in Al Wutayyah near the capital Muscat. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was fifth, Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) sixth, with Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) seventh and Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) eighth.

After their success in Qatar, Etixx-QuickStep were keen to bring the momentum to Oman. The uphill drag to the line was always going to be a tricky one and a miss-timed lead-out would cost them in the end. Boonen’s last man Matteo Trentin pulled off the front with still over 200 metres to go, leaving the Belgian to go it alone.

Boonen looked like he might hold on until the line but Guardini found the push he needed to overtake him in the final metres and take his first victory of the season. “With the headwind and uphill finish, it was perfect for a sprint from behind. It was good because I was a few wheels back. I took Boonen's wheel and I went full gas in the last 100 metres,” Guardini said at the finish.

Guardini now leads the general classification with a four-second lead over Boonen. Bora-Argon 18’s Patrick Konrad sits in third, just a second behind Boonen, due to the bonus seconds earned in the intermediate sprints while out in the break.  “The leader's jersey is special too,” said Guardini. "I like the first stage, to get the leader's jersey and I hope for more.”

How it happened

The mercury hit 30 degrees as the peloton descended on the Bayt Al Naman Castle for the opening stage of the Tour of Oman. The 195.5-kilometre stage was an undulating ride finishing with a gradual uphill ride past the police stadium in Al Wutayyah.

At the start, the riders hid where they could in shade, some in the entrance to the castle, as they tried to avoid the rising midday heat. There was no hanging about, however, once the flag was dropped and four men jumped off the front soon after.

By 10 kilometres the group consisting of Johan van Zyl (MTN-Qhubeka), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Argon 18), Simone Andreetta (Bardiani CSF) and Jef van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) had three minutes on the bunch. That would extend to five before the day was out.

With a finish tailor made for Kristoff, Katusha took control of the peloton for most of the day with some assistance from Trek Factory Racing and Movistar. They kept the four men out front at close quarters and with the break seemingly going nowhere van Zyl decided to go it alone through the first feed zone with 85 kilometres still to run.  The move saw him take the points and the seconds at the final intermediate sprint of the day but Konrad won the race for second place earning enough bonuses to earn him a trip to the podium.

Van Zyl quickly put a substantial gap between himself and the three chasers, who soon gave up hope of catching him. A puncture for Konrad spelled the end of their time off the front and they were soon back in the bunch. Van Zyl continued on until he too was finally absorbed back into the Katusha-led peloton with 32 kilometres remaining.

“The plan was to try and get into the break to score some points and get seconds, knowing that if there are no time gaps at the finish I’d have a chance at wearing the young rider's jersey," Van Zyl said. "So getting into the break was easy as the first move went. Then I lived up to my nickname (VanSnail) by coming 4/4 at the first sprint, scoring no points.

"My tactic was to then go a bit earlier for the second sprint. I timed it a bit wrong as I went with more than 10km to go. When I realised that, it was already too late and I had good legs so i just kept going.”

Katusha continued to do much of the heavy lifting after the break was caught and the bunch stayed compact until the final kilometres. Etixx-QuickStep picking up the initiative from Katusha but their error proved a costly one and they will be going back to the drawing board for Wednesday’s sprint finish.

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