Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) has won the last Tour of Oman stage as Ben Hermans (BMC) confirmed his overall title. Kristoff outsprinted Eduard Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Sacha Modolo (UAE Abu Dhabi) at the end of the final stage.
The breakaway of the day never had a too big gap, while with 7km to go the break was completely neutralized. Team Katusha-Alpecin leader repeated his 2016 win at the same finish location and has now already seven Oman stage wins on his palmares. The Norvegian rider took the third win in the 2017 edition of the Tour of Oman and his fourth victory of the season .
„It was today one of the windiest days in a long time in Oman and we knew it would be hard to control the race. We were lucky however as also the BMC Team tried to control the race for the GC leader Hermans. At the end they tried to win with the late attack of Greg Van Avermaet. We did not control the whole race but we did our main work in the final. Luckily I had my teammates to support me in the local laps. Especially Marco Haller did an amazing job in the last two kilometers. He brought me in a good position for the sprint. With 150 meters to go I was second and there was a really strong headwind. The last 150 meters felt like 300 meters but in the end I managed to win and I am really happy to win my third stage in the Tour of Oman 2017!“, said Alexander Kristoff.
Disaster almost struck for race leader Ben Hermans when the Belgian hit the ground just ahead of the first climb, but the crash had no serious consequences and the rider soon rejoined the pack to continue the defense of his leader’s jersey.
Hermans finished in the pack and successfully defended his 22-second advantage over Rui Costa of UAE Abu Dhabi to claim the first stage race win of his career.
Tour of Oman 2017 – stage 6 results (The Wave – Muttrah Cornich):
| 1 | Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) | 2:57:29 |
| 2 | Eduard Grosu (Nippo – Vini Fantini) | ,, |
| 3 | Sacha Modolo (UAE Abu Dhabi) | ,, |
| 4 | Bert Van Lerberghe (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise) | ,, |
| 5 | Manuel Belletti (Wilier Triestina) | ,, |
| 6 | Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 7 | Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 8 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport) | ,, |
| 9 | Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 10 | Roy Jans (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect) | ,, |
Final general classification:
| 1 | Ben Hermans (BMC) | 20:56:20 |
| 2 | Rui Costa (UAE Abu Dhabi) | +22” |
| 3 | Fabio Aru (Astana) | +35” |
| 4 | Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data) | +58” |
| 5 | Tsgabu Grmay (Bahrain Merida) | +1’12” |
| 6 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) | +1’17” |
| 7 | Mathias Frank (AG2R) | +1’19” |
| 8 | Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data) | +1’21” |
| 9 | Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain Merida) | +1’33” |
| 10 | Nathan Haas (Dimension Data) | +1’38” |
