(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Astana's Alexey Lutsenko joined the Tour of Oman overall winners' decorated list that comprises names like Chris Froome, Fabian Cancellara and Vincenzo Nibali over the past eight years.
Lutsenko clinched the title in the ninth edition of the annual race and was joined on the overall podium by his Astana teammate Miguel Angel Lopez as runner-up.
Bahrain-Merida's Gorka Izagirre rounded up the overall podium after Alexander Kristoff of UAE Team Emirates won the bunch sprint of the sixth and final 135.5km stage ahead of Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).
L-R: Keith Pelley, Sayyidah Rawan al Said, H H Shihab bin Tariq al Said, Joost Luiten with trophy and Ahmed al Musalmi at the awards ceremony
Lutsenko's triumph was set up with top-three finishes on three of the six stages. He moved into the lead on Saturday, thanks to his runner-up finish behind Lopez atop Jebel Akhdar. Norwegian Kristoff's sprint win was his first for his new UAE Team Emirates squad and also his third consecutive win on the Muttrah Corniche. He hit out early on the fast, slightly downhill finish, holding off Coquard who threw his bike at the line.
"I think I've sprinted on the Corniche nine times because I've done every edition of the Tour of Oman. I know exact how to do the sprint because I've done it so many times. I've lost it many times before I started to win but I think I've cracked the code on how to win it now," Kristoff said.
Shortly after the start in Al Mouj Muscat, the breakaway took place with some usual suspects. Rémi Cavagna
(Quick-Step Floors), Maxime Farazijn (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Pim Ligthart (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) and Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) have all already been at the front this week. They enjoyed a lead of four minutes 40 seconds after 19km of racing.
Team Dimension Data and Vital Concept Cycling Club got into action to control the gap. After 50km into the stage, the breakaway's lead was at 3m50s.
It steadily decreased with Trek-Segafredo and Katusha-Alpecin also participating in the chase. It was down to 1m15s when the race entered the final circuit on the Muttrah Corniche, with three laps of 7.5km.
Cavagna proved to be the strongest in the break, soloing away from his former companions 10km from the finish. He managed to open a 45s gap as he got into the final lap but was eventually reeled in with 3km to go. The perfect timing for Kristoff to power to win as the Norwegian won his eighth stage at Oman, a record.
Lutsenko kept up with the pack to claim the overall victory.
Overall results [top five]: 1 Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team, 22 hours 49 minutes 50 seconds), 2 Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team, +0:00:11), 3 Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida, +0:00:28), 4 Jesus Herrada (Cofidis, Solutions Credits, +0:00:30), 5 Nathan Haas(Katusha-Alpecin, +0:00:32).
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