Tour of Oman: Cancellara wins stage 2

Despite recovering from a cold, Fabian Cancellara stormed to his first victory of the season, and the race lead, on the second stage of the Tour of Oman. The Trek Factory Racing rider demonstrated that his pre-Classics form is coming together as he won the uphill sprint into Al Bustan, beating Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC).

Cancellara was part of a small group that survived the multiple attacks over the final two climbs, driving his bike up the right-hand side of the road to pip Valverde to the line.

“I was feeling good and tried to forget the health issues,” Cancellara said after making three trips to the podium to collect his stage winner’s trophy, and leader’s and points jerseys.

“I’m super happy and the work that the team did was excellent because the other day we didn’t really do the job that we should do. I wouldn’t say that there was confusion but we lost each other a few times. Today was the exact opposite, we did the perfect team job and everybody did the job that he had to do.”

There were several attacks out of already diminishing peloton, as the general classification riders tried to shed their rivals. Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Valverde all had a go off the front in the final 10 kilometres.

Movistar did much of the pace setting and looked keen to prime Valverde for victory but it was BMC who had the numbers up front as the bunch rounded the final bend onto the long, wide drag up to the finish line as they looked to set Greg Van Avermaet up for what proved to be a frenetic sprint. However, it was Daniel Moreno (Katusha) who struck out first at 300 metres as he noticed a slowing in the pace.

Cancellara threw himself to the right of the road, with Van Avermaet and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) in tow, as Valverde and Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) chose the other side but it was Cancellara who took it in the five-man sprint.

“It’s not every day that you get a chance to be up there and it’s already many years that in this type of finish I was there but I never had a chance. I am really satisfied,” said Cancellara.

Cancellara now moves to the top of the standings, leading the general classification by four seconds over Valverde. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Argon 18) managed to stay with the leaders to retain third place and his lead in the young rider’s classification.

How it happened

The attacks came immediately, with five men trying their luck before a smaller four-man group was allowed to ride away. Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) made it into the escape for the second day running, along with his teammate Preben Van Hecke, Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) and Enrico Barbin (Bardiani CSF). With the race leader in their ranks, Astana took the responsibility of controlling the bunch and allowed the four men out front to extend their lead to over five minutes ahead of the opening sprint. Smukulis took the honours but it was a closely fought battle between himself and Van Meirharghe.

The peloton began to stir and cut the gap to the break down by a minute. Worried, the escapees picked up the speed and Barbin was soon left to fend for himself after he suffered a puncture. The Italian was caught by the bunch after just 50 kilometres of racing. Reduced in numbers, the three out front pushed the gap back up to where it had been prior to the sprint.

It came down quickly though when Tinkoff-Saxo came to the front of the peloton, putting the hurt on and splitting the peloton in the process. Edvald Boasson Hagen and Arnaud Démare were two riders that lost out but they soon found their way back.

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