Tour of Oman 2014 - Stage 2

The Tour of Oman continued today with a 139 kilometre ride from Al Bustan to Quriyat. The profile was slightly lumpy but the end of the stage was flat, and it still looked like it would favor a sprint finish - another chance for Andre Greipel to show his dominance? Or perhaps a chance for a lesser known sprinter to show his hand. 

The peloton showed their respects to Kristof Goddaert, the former IAM Cycling rider who tragically passed away yesterday after being hit by a bus after falling whilst out training. Once the flag dropped and the racing got underway, attacks came quickly. Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) managed to make the breakaway once again, whilst wearing the jersey for most aggressive rider.

He was joined by Paolo Colonna (Bardiani-CSF) and Aldo Ino Ilesic (UnitedHealthcare). IAM's Sebastian Hinault did try and bridge across, but ended up stuck in no man's land and was quickly brought back by the bunch. The breakaway got nearly eight minutes over the peloton, but the sprinter's teams were never going to let an opportunity for a bunch sprint go a-miss, and soon started working.

The sprint was tricky due to a strong headwind, but it was hotly contested, with Katusha's Alexander Kristoff coming out on top, ahead of Leigh Howard of Orica-GreenEDGE and Tom Boonen of Omega Pharma-Quickstep. He put in a strong effort for five hundred metres to come out a bike length clear of his rivals. 

It will make a pleasant change for Kristoff, who was blighted by bad luck during the Tour of Qatar. Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) lost the race lead due to the bonuses gained by Leigh Howard of Orica-GreenEDGE, who now takes over the race lead going into stage three.