Clocking up his third win of the new season, Marcel Kittel boosted his 1t4i team’s chance of getting a Tour de France wildcard when he powered to victory on today’s final stage of the Tour of Oman.
The German beat Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) to the line at Matrah Corniche, adding to his stage win in the Étoile de Bessèges plus victory on stage three in Oman.
Other fast riders such as Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma Quick Step), Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia) and Mark Cavendish (Sky Procycling) didn’t get into position and finished between eighth and fourteenth.
The day offered time bonuses at the intermediate sprints and at the finish but with Peter Velits (Omega Pharma Quick Step) and yesterday’s stage winner Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) both missing out on time bonuses, the one second time gap between them remained. Velits consequently won the race.
Nibali had tried to nab some time back but finished just outside the bonuses when he was fourth in the first sprint.
RadioShack Nissan’s Tony Gallopin took third, seventeen seconds off the top step of the podium, while Sandy Casar (FDJ BigMat) and his team-mate Arnold Jeannesson were fourth and fifth.
Today’s final stage saw the riders cover 130 kilometres from the start in Al Khawd. Almost immediately after the start four riders clipped away, namely Michael Schar (BMC Racing Team), William Clarke (CSS), Alexandre Lemair (Team Bridgestone Anchor) and Lee Rodgers (RTS Racing Team).
These built a lead of one minute forty seconds but with the time bonuses proving important, the peloton hauled them back prior to the first sprint. There, Nibali tried to get some time back but finished just outside the crucial top three placings. Boonen won the sprint ahead of Sagan.
Afterwards, three riders attacked and built a maximum lead of just over a minute and a half. Garmin-Barracuda duo Christian Vandevelde and Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Vansummeren combined with Rabobank’s Laurens ten Dam to try to stay clear but were hauled back by the Sky-led peloton three laps from the finish.
The British squad wasn’t able to keep up its control, though, with the sprint not going to plan for Cavendish. He won the same stage last year but returns empty-handed from the Tour of Oman. The same can’t be said for Kittel, who with his two stage wins has provided a further sign that he is the next big young sprinter in the sport.