Jesús Herrada surged away from a select group of riders to win the Tour of Oman stage 2 uphill finish above Qurayyat, south of the capital Muscat.
The Cofidis rider is an expert on rising finishes and he waited until the final 300 metres before attacking.
He opened a gap as the gradient eased and had time to celebrate with his arms in the air before collapsing on the ground due to his huge effort.
Article continues belowBehind, Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) beat Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) with a bike throw to take second place.
Thanks to the time bonuses, Herrada is the new race leader. He leads Van Gils by four seconds, with Ulissi at six seconds.
Herrada and Cofidis will defend the leader’s red jersey on stage 3 to Jabal Haat that ends with a 4.6km climb to the line.
The 174 km second stage was another trip across the barren but beautiful roads of Oman, with the start at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat and finishing in Qurayyat, some 100km down the coast.
The early break formed after just six kilometres with Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) and Luca Van Boven (Bingoal WB) soon joined by Iván Cobo (Equipo Kern Pharma), Angel Fuentes (Burgos-BH), Jeroen Meijers (Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team) e Kosuke Takeyama (JLC Team Ukyo).
They opened a lead of 2:30 before UAE Team Emirates and Astana Qazaqstan began to bring the gap down. With no chance of a sprint finish, Mark Cavendish joined his teammates to do the hard work on the front of the peloton to ensure Alexey Lutsenko could contest the finish.
With 30km to go, only Van Boven and Fuentes were left out front but their lead was falling fast. They were caught with 7.5km to race, as teams fought for position before the start of the three-kilometre climb to the finish.
Bora-Hansgrohe tried to set the pace as the gradient ramped up, with a select group of 50 or so riders reaching the final kilometre together.
Victory was all about timing a final huge effort. Lutsenko surged first but Herrada was stronger and powered past him and opened a winning gap. Van Gils and Ulissi could only sprint shoulder to shoulder for second place, as Herrada celebrated his victory.
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