Nibali wins on Green Mountain in Tour of Oman
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) showed that he is finally ready to have a good spring season after years of early-season travails when he rode to an impressive solo win in the infamous queen stage of the Tour of Oman. On the brutally steep slopes of the Green Mountain, he dropped his fellow climbers with a strong solo attack and put 9 seconds into Romain Bardet (Ag2r) at the finish while his teammate Jakob Fuglsang was three seconds further back in third.
Nibali’s victory, his first of the season, sees him take over the race lead from Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), who was never expected to keep hold of the red jersey but nevertheless battled to 10th place on the stage – 1:10 behind the Italian but ahead of climbers Sepulveda and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R-La Mondiale).
Nibali’s overall lead is a slim one, with Bardet poised just six seconds back ahead of a penultimate stage that features a triple ascent of the Bousher Al Amerat climb before a long run to the line. Fuglsang sits third overall, with Dumoulin fourth at 40 seconds and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) fifth, as he was on the stage.
Saturday’s parcours, combined with the GC situation, should generate some attacking and exciting racing ahead of the final-day sprint procession on the Matrah Corniche.
Tour of Oman 2016 – stage 4 (Knowledge Oasis Muscat – Jabal Al Akhdhar):
| 1 | Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) |
4:25:48 |
| 2 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) |
+09” |
| 3 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) |
+12” |
| 4 | Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) |
+18” |
| 5 | Rui Costa (Lampre – Merida) |
+38” |
| 6 | Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) |
+43” |
| 7 | George Bennett (LottoNl-Jumbo) |
,, |
| 8 | Brendan Canty (Drapac) |
+45” |
| 9 | Floris De Tier (Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise) |
+01’08” |
| 10 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) |
+01’10” |
General classification after stage 4:
| 1 | Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) |
16:18:35 |
| 2 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) |
+15” |
| 3 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) |
+24” |
| 4 | Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) |
+40” |
| 5 | Rui Costa (Lampre – Merida) |
+54” |
| 6 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) |
+01’16” |
| 7 | Brendan Canty (Drapac) |
+01’31” |
| 8 | Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) |
+01’38” |
| 9 | Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) |
+01’41” |
| 10 | Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx – Quick-Step) |
+01’59” |
