The fourth and penultimate stage of the Tour of Oman held no surprises this Tuesday on the road to Sohar. After 146 kilometres of racing, a bunch sprint — as expected — decided the winner. Thibaud Gruel once again tried to get involved in the mix but had to settle for 17th place due to a tricky positioning.
For this fourth stage, the Tour of Oman offered a rather atypical route, completely flat along the seafront, with no significant relief and barely 150 metres of elevation gain over 147 kilometres of racing. Any outcome other than a sprint therefore seemed inconceivable, and only two riders actually made up the day’s breakaway. “There was just a bit of wind, which meant that the peloton was quite stretched out”, explained Thierry Bricaud. “However, it wasn’t strong enough to create echelons, so it ended up being a fairly calm day.” The peloton even waited until the final three kilometres to reel in the two fugitives, before the expected sprint unfolded.
“They couldn’t find an opening” – Thierry Bricaud
“The approach itself wasn’t too bad,” Thierry added. “The idea was not to be on the front row going into the corner located 1.5 kilometres from the finish. However, the guys were on the left-hand side, and since that was opposite to the wind direction, they unfortunately couldn’t find an opening in the final kilometre to go for the sprint. Thibaud therefore remained in the back.” Starting from a long way back, the young Frenchman finished in 17th place, with the victory going to Erlend Blikra. “Aside from that, everyone had a pretty good day,” Thierry concluded. “Tomorrow will be the final stage with the finish at Green Mountain. Rémy will try to do a strong final climb, and a breakaway could potentially go far. It will all depend on its composition, and we’ll need to stay alert.”
