Tour of Oman 2014 - Stage 3

The third day of the Tour of Oman was a 145 kilometre stage from Bank Muscat to Al Bustan. It looked as though it could be a sprint finish, but a climb close to the finish meant that breakaways could use the slope as a launching pad for a stage-winning attack. 

A breakaway formed as the flag dropped for racing to begin, containing four men. Nicola Boem (Bardiani-CSF) took part, along with Martijn Maaskant (UnitedHealthcare), Kevyn Ista (IAM Cycling) and Jelle Wallays of Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise. Their lead never really threatened and never surpassed three minutes, as Orica-GreenEDGE did the lionshare of the work.

Hayden Roulston (Trek) crashed on a climb midstage after suffering a puncture, but reports say despite a lot of road rash he will continue in the race. The race then continued at good pace towards the tricky finish. The final climb is where the race really lit up - Dario Cataldo set up Chris Froome for an attack, and the Tour de France champion hit the front.

He was quickly joined by Peter Sagan, Zdenek Stybar and Fabian Cancellara, a strong group that looked like it had a good chance of staying away to the completion of the stage. However, strong headwinds hit the group, and Lotto-Belisol worked hard to bring the race back together for their sprinter Andre Greipel.

The group was brought back in the final climb, and Lotto dragged Greipel to the front of the peloton for the sprint. Greipel ended up winning the stage, in front of Peter Sagan (Cannondale), who managed to stay at the front of the race, and Nacer Bouhanni, the Frenchman on the FDJ.fr outfit. The win left Greipel proud of his team, who delivered him to his fifth win of the season, but Sagan disappointed, he had not managed to make a mark on the Tour of Oman just yet.