Tour of Oman 2016: Nibali takes Queen Stage and overall lead

At 177 kilometres, the Queen Stage in the Tour of Oman leads to Green Mountain for a 7 kilometres closing climb with a gradient hardly under 11%. The whole day ten riders are adrift, but then Green Mountain decides on the winner. Or is it mister Nibali himself? At the insanly steep slopes he blows all competition away, with the acception of Romain Bardet, to take both stage win and leaders jersey. Bardet is only 6 seconds down. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results stage 4 Tour of Oman

1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Romain Bardet (fra) + 0.09
3. Jakob Fuglsang (den) + 0.12
4. Tom Dumoulin (nld) + 0.18
5. Rui Costa (por) + 0.38
6. Merhawi Kudus (eri) + 0.43
7. George Bennett (nzl) s.t.
8. Canty Bredan (aus) + 0.45
9. Floris De Tier (bel) + 1.08
10. Edvald Boasson Hagen (nor) + 1.10

GC after stage 4
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Romain Bardet (fra) + 0.06
3. Jakob Fuglsang (den) + 0.24
4. Tom Dumoulin (nld) + 0.40
5. Rui Costa (por) + 0.54
6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (nor) + 1.16
7. Canty Bredan (aus) + 1.31
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (ita) + 1.38
9. Merhave Kudus (eri) + 1.41
10. Gianluca Brambilla (ita) + 1.59

Race report
Early in the race Kenny Dehaes breaks clear (as always in Oman), this time he is flanked by Bjorn Thurau. But with 6 kms done the duo is caught.

Cimolai and Oss are next to get clear, with Keisse, De Vries, Steels, Pfingsten, Antonini, Stenuit, White and Reihs bridging the gap. These ten riders cooperate well and after 1 hour in the saddle they enjoy a 4 minute lead. Average speed: 46.1 kmph.

Then the peloton reacts to keep the gap lingering there. Best ranked rider in the front group is Daniel Oss, who is 4 minutes adrift, and for a moment it looks like the big guns in the pack don’t mind about the day win.

But appearances are deceiving. At the steep slopes Green Mountain all hell breaks loose. To begin with, Eduardo Sepúlveda makes a name for himself. He tracks down whats left of the front group and is alone in the lead until 3 kilometres under the top. Nibali and Bardet take over with the Italian outperforming the 24-year old AG2R-rider in the last kilometre.

Bardet now is 6 seconds down on Nibali, so fireworks are to be expected for tomorrow’s hilly stage.