Lutsenko secures overall victory

Muscat : Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) secured overall victory at the Tour of Oman, as Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) won the bunch sprint of the final stage ahead of Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).

Lutsenko set up his overall victory with top three finishes on three of the six stages. He moved into the race lead thanks to finishing second behind Astana teammate Miguel Angel Lopez on the finish atop the Green Mountain on stage five.

Kristoff’s sprint win was his first for his new UAE Team Emirates squad and also his third consecutive win on the Matrah Corniche. He hit out early on the fast, slightly downhill finish, holding off Coquard who threw his bike at the line.

“I think I’ve sprinted on the Corniche nine times because I’ve done every edition of the Tour of Oman. I know exact how to do the sprint because I’ve done it so many times. I’ve lost it many times before I started to win but I think I’ve cracked the code on how to win it now,” Kristoff explained.

“Today we had a good meeting with my teammates and they knew exactly what we wanted to do in the final kilometres and we did it more or less perfectly. Then I know I’m a hard man to beat in this type of race.

I’m very happy how the team raced and brought me to the front and that I was able to finish it off. It’s important to win and I was the first win with my new team so I’m very happy.” 

Results

Stage six: Al Mouj Muscat to  Matrah Corniche, 135.5km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 3 hrs 11 min 29 secs

2. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept Cycling Club

3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

4. Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana

5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin

6. Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors

7. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

8. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team

9. Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

10. Floris Gerts (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij, all at same time

Final general classification

1. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, in 22 hrs 49 min 50 secs 

2. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at 11 secs

3. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 28 secs

4. Jesus Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 30 secs

5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 32 secs