PeloPics: Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) secured a previously elusive stage win at the Tour of Oman on Thursday after powering away from the rest of the field to take the honors on stage 3 and move into the leader’s jersey.
Once again, it was a group of four riders that went clear early into stage 3 and, as the race approached the first of three categorized climbs, after 50km, of the 179.5km course, the gap between the breakaway and the main bunch was sitting at over four minutes.
Heading into the second half of the day, an increase in pace at the front of the peloton saw the advantage of the leaders begin to fall and, as the road began to rise once again, towards the summit of the Quriyat climb, just two minutes stood between the two groups.
The last riders from the early breakaway were caught with 20km to go as Nathan Haas, race leader at the start of the day, and his Team Katusha-Alpecin teammates set the pace in an attempt to neutralize any late attacks on the approach to the testing final climb and the 8.5km run into the finish on the Wadi Dayqah Dam.
With 5km remaining, a select group of just 50 riders remained in the main bunch as BMC Racing Team hit the front to control the final three kilometers of the race and help set the stage for Van Avermaet on the uphill drag to the line.
An impressive turn of speed from Van Avermaet in the closing meters of the race saw him jump off the front of the bunch and power away from the rest of the field to take an emphatic stage win and move into the red leader’s jersey.
Tour of Oman Stage 3 Result:
1. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC in 4:36:04
2. Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates at 0:03
3. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana
4. Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin at 0:07
6. Magnus Nielsen (Den) Astana
7. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert at 0:09
8. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
9. Moreno Angel Lopez (Col) Astana
10. Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis.
Tour of Oman Overall After Stage 3:
1. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC in 12:56:44
2. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana at 0:11
3. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin at 0:13
4. Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida at 0:19
5. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors at 0:25
6. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
7. Moreno Angel Lopez (Col) Astana
8. Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
9. Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis
10. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data at 0:33.