(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) France's Bryan Coquard of Vital Concept took the opening day honours of the 2018 Tour of Oman, delivering a fine sprint to finish ahead of Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) on Tuesday. Coquard also leads the general and points classifications.
Ably assisted by a lead-out train where Kris Boeckmans and Kevin Reza featured prominently, Coquard made no mistake in the finishing straight, out-pacing Cavendish, Nizzolo and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) to claim his first win of the year and the second of Vital Concept's short existence to date.
Timing was of the essence in the finishing straight, where the fast men had to battle into a headwind, and Coquard chose his moment well to emerge a clear winner.
"I have three second places and a third place at the start of the season and I would like to win. On this first stage of the Tour of Oman, it was perfect with a very good lead-out and a perfect sprint from me. I'm very happy," said Coquard.
After a carnival of sprinting at last week's Dubai Tour, the Tour of Oman offers more rugged terrain in the days ahead, but there was still a strong complement of sprinters on hand, with Adam Blythe (6th), Alexander Kristoff (7th) and Magnus Cort (9th) all battling to make an impact in a fiercely-contested finale.
The flat 162.5km stage one began in Nizwa and was expected to favour the fast men. The irrepressible Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport), however, was willing to tilt against the windmill, and he went on the offensive almost as soon as the flag dropped, and was joined by Maxime Farazijn (Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise), Pierre Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Brian van Goethem (Roomport - Nederlandse Loterij) off the front of the race.
They quickly opened a 4'30' gap, only 15km into the stage. Team Cofidis and Team Sunweb were the first to react and set the pace at the front of the pack. UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain-Merida then joined them to ensure a bunch gallop in front of SQU. With a gap down to two minutes for final 50km, the leaders' chances to battle it out in the final appeared slim. They eventually got reeled in with nine km to go, after Pierre Luc Perichon sealed the lead in the most aggressive rider classification.
From there, a bunch sprint was inevitable. Cofidis, Sunweb, Quick-Step Floors and Dimension Data were all prominent in the breathless closing kilometres, but victory – and the leader's red jersey – fell to Coquard.
The second stage of the Tour of Oman starts on Wednesday, a 167.5 kilometre stretch featuring four classified climbs from Muscat to the coastal village of Al Bustan.
Overall standings [top ten]: 1 Bryan Coquard (3hr 58min 41sec), 2 Mark Cavendish (at 0:04), 3 Giacomo Nizzolo (at 0:04), 4 Nacer Bouhanni (at 0:06), 5 Maximilian Walscheid (at 0:08), 6 Adam Blythe (at 0:08), 7 Alexander Kristoff (at 0:08), 8 Bram Welten (at 0:10), 9 Magnus Cort Nielsen (at 0:10), Boris Vallee (at 0:10).
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