Lutsenko secures overall victory for Astana at Tour of Oman

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Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) secured overall victory at the Tour of Oman, as Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) won the bunch sprint of the final stage ahead of Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).

Lutsenko set up his overall victory with top three finishes on three of the six stages. He moved into the race lead thanks to finishing second behind Astana teammate Miguel Angel Lopez on the finish atop the Green Mountain on stage five.

Kristoff's sprint win was his first for his new UAE Team Emirates squad and also his third consecutive win on the Matrah Corniche. He hit out early on the fast, slightly downhill finish, holding off Coquard who threw his bike at the line.

"I think I've sprinted on the Corniche nine times because I've done every edition of the Tour of Oman. I know exact how to do the sprint because I've done it so many times. I've lost it many times before I started to win but I think I've cracked the code on how to win it now," Kristoff explained.

"Today we had a good meeting with my teammates and they knew exactly what we wanted to do in the final kilometres and we did it more or less perfectly. Then I know I'm a hard man to beat in this type of race.

"I'm very happy how the team raced and brought me to the front and that I was able to finish it off. It's important to win and I was the first win with my new team so I'm very happy."

A sprint on the Matrah Corniche

As per tradition, the final stage of the Tour of Oman was a short at just 135km, with an expected final chance for the sprinters.

Shortly after the start in Al Mouj Muscat, Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors), Maxime Farazijn (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Pim Ligthart (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) & Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) got away to form the break of the day. Their gap stabilized at around 4:30.

It didn't hold however and after 60km had fallen to 3:25. It dropped again as the race hit the first of two climbs on the day. Meurisse claimed the points there, ahead of Ligthart and Ferrari. Shortly before the second climb, Ferrari took the intermediate sprint, followed by Farazijn and Ligthart.

Adam Blythe of Aqua Blue Sports had hoped to win the stage but never had the chance. He was disqualified from the race for an irregular bike change during this final stage.

Cavagna was first to the summit of the final climb ahead of Meurisse and Ferrari, and that was when the stage turned serious. The break started shedding members and with 33km to go, the gap was down to 50 seconds. The stage was still rolling, with Katusha-Alpecin and BMC pushed the pace, hoping to crack some of the sprinters.

Sensing the break was about to be caught, Cavagna jumped from the lead group, with only Ligthart able to follow, with 25km to go. The stage ended with three laps of a 7.5km course on the spectacular Muttrah Corniche. The two leaders crossed the finish line for the first time with former break group riders at 0:35 and the field at 1:15.

The peloton caught the chasers on that first lap, and the two leaders had a lead of 1:00. With 10km to go, Cavagna went solo but the field was only 30 seconds behind and in hot pursuit. He hung on to that lead, with s25 seconds still in hand at the 5km marker. It wasn't to be however, and he was caught by the onrushing peloton with only 2.5km left.

The pace was so high that it split the peloton. As expected, it came down to a fast sprint, with Kristoff finally getting that important first win for UAE Team Emirates. 

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