Van Avermaet powers into leader’s jersey in Oman after victory on stage 3

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) claimed the Tour of Oman’s third stage after powering away from the rest of the field to take the honors and move into the leader’s jersey.

It was a group of four riders that went clear early into stage 3 and, as the race approached the first of three categorized climbs, after 50km, of the 179.5km course, the gap between the breakaway and the main bunch was sitting at over four minutes.

Heading into the second half of the day, an increase in pace at the front of the peloton saw the advantage of the leaders begin to fall and, as the road began to rise once again, towards the summit of the Quriyat climb, just two minutes stood between the two groups.

The last riders from the early breakaway were caught with 20km to go as Nathan Haas, race leader at the start of the day, and his Team Katusha-Alpecin teammates set the pace in an attempt to neutralize any late attacks on the approach to the testing final climb and the 8.5km run into the finish on the Wadi Dayqah Dam.

With 5km remaining, a select group of just 50 riders remained in the main bunch as BMC hit the front to control the final three kilometers of the race and help set the stage for Van Avermaet on the uphill drag to the line.

An impressive turn of speed from Van Avermaet in the closing meters of the race saw him jump off the front of the bunch and power away from the rest of the field to take an emphatic stage win and move into the red leader’s jersey.

“I am always happy to win and especially in Oman after so many years. I think the team did a perfect job”, said Van Avermaet. “We came at the right moment on the descent with 3km to go, and they put me in a perfect position so I could wait for the perfect moment. It was at the hardest point of the climb that I went full gas, and I just hoped that no one could follow and that’s what happened so I was really happy that I could cross the line first.”

Tour of Oman 2018 – stage 3 results (German University of Technology – Wadi Dayqah Dam):

General classification after stage 3: