Tour of Oman 2015: Rafael Valls wins stage 4 at Green Mountain

The stage to Green Mountain is often decisive in the Tour of Oman. Two Belgian riders are on the attack, Gijs Van Hoecke and Stijn Vandenbergh, but they are reeled in just before climbing Green Mountain. Nibali is the first to attack, but once BMC starts setting the pace for Van Garderen the Italian is dropped. The American can't finish the job since Rafael Valls outpowers him on the top. (Slideshow route/profile)

Tour of Oman 2015: Results 4th stage

1. Rafael Valls (spa)
2. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) + 0.05
3. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 0.19
4. Rafal Majka (pol) + 0.22
5. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 0.35
6. Rui Costa (por) + 0.49
7. Jacques J. van Rensburg (Rsa) + 0.54
8. Louis Meintjes (Rsa) + 0.58
9. Ben Hermans (bel) + 1.00
10. Jakob Fuglsang (den) s.t.

GC after stage 4
1. Rafael Valls (spa)
2. Tejay van Garderen (USA) + 0.09
3. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 0.19
4. Rafal Majka (pol) + 0.32
5. Jacques J. van Rensburg (Rsa) + 1.04
6. Louis Meintjes (Rsa) + 1.08
7. Jakob Fuglsang (den) + 1.10
8. Ben Hermans (bel) + 1.15
9. Julián Arredondo (col) + 1.25
10. Patrick Konrad (Aut) + 1.36

Race report
Straight from the start a break-away of four is off. Van Hoecke and Vandenbergh are accompanied by Andrea Guardini and Jef Van Meirhaeghe. The first is eyeing up the green jersey, the second the dot jersey. They finish 1 and 2 in the intermediate sprint and immediately they let go, leaving Van Hoecke and Vandenbergh upfront. The duo races to a maximum gain of 15 minutes.

Van Hoecke and Vandenbergh just before Green Mountain. The 5,7 km’s climb goes up by an average grade of 10.2%.

Vincenzo Nibali is the first to attack and the Italian keeps on attacking untill he drops his rivals. For a moment. Led by BMC a group of 20 riders manages to get back on his wheel. With BMC setting the pace for Van Garderen Nibali is dropped with 3 km’s left.

BMC pushes on and one after the other riders are dropped. The red/black train is doing everything right to bring leader Tejay van Garderen the win, but it is Rafael Valls outsmarting the American and besting him by 10 metres. The 27-year old Spaniard is the new leader for tomorrow’s showdown leading four times over the notorious Bousher Alamrat (at 20%).

This is tomorrow’s route.