Vervaeke punches to Stage 2 victory
Louis Vervaeke of Soudal Quick-Step grabbed his maiden professional win as the Belgian rider punched ahead with a timing of four hours 45 minutes and six seconds in the 203 km second stage of Tour of Oman on Sunday.
Vervaeke triumphed atop the Yitti Hills to claim the red jersey for the overall leader, beating his teammate Valentin Paret-Peintre (+ 2') and Sean Flynn (+2') of Picnic PostNL.
Germans Felix Engelhardt of Team Jayco AlUla and Marco Brenner of Tudor completed the top five with 30 riders making a last-gasp finish behind the top three in 04:45:08.
The stage, longest of the Tour of Oman, began at the scenic Al Rustaq Fort.
The five riders in the early breakaway pushed their advantage to five minutes at the foot of Bausher-Al Amerat, where the going got tough. Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) and Mikel Azparren (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) managed to bridge the gap near the halfway point. The Belgian and the Spaniard soon upped the pace with Magnus Kulset (Uno-X Mobility) in tow.
Although the new three-man lead group still enjoyed a five-minute buffer going into the last 30 km, it melted to just over a minute with 10 km to go, when Vervaeke went for broke. The 31-year-old puncheur grabbed his first professional win, crossing the finish line with just two seconds to spare over the peloton in a crash-marred finale.
CHAOS AT FINISH
The Belgian rider rode clear of his three-man breakaway in the final 10 km — attacking over the Al Jissah climb ahead of an undulating final 10 km in the race.
Attacks came from the main group, including a major move by David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ) to bridge the narrow gap to the Belgian solo rider, but the moves were brought back within the final 5 km, when the bunch began to aggressively chip into Vervaeke's one-minute lead.
However, despite an animated chase, the peloton was left only metres behind the Belgian on the finish line in Yitti Hills, as crosswinds and chaos in the sprint saw multiple riders crash in the final 300m.
Vervaeke continued his punch, two seconds ahead of his teammate Valentin Paret-Peintre, who sprinted to second past Flynn.
The stage win delivered Vervaeke into the overall race lead, ahead of Paret-Peintre in second place at a gap of 6 seconds and Flynn in third at a margin of 8 seconds.
On Monday, the cyclists will tackle a mountainous 180.8 km route from Fanja to the Eastern Mountain in the third stage of Tour of Oman.
Tour of Oman Stage 3 Results
Rank, Rider, Country, Team, Time
1. Louis Vervaeke, Belgium, Soudal Quick-Step, 04:45:06
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre, France, Soudal Quick-Step, + 02
3. Sean Flynn, Great Britain, Team Picnic PostNL, + 02
4. Felix Engelhardt, Germany, Team Jayco-AlUla, + 02
5. Marco Brenner, Germany, Tudor Pro Cycling Team, + 02
6. Henok Mulubrhan, Eritrea, XDS Astana Team, + 02
7. Steff Cras, Belgium, Team Total Energies, + 02
8. Adam Yates, Great Britain, UAE Team Emirates, + 02
9. Mathys Rondel, France, Tudor Pro Cycling Team, + 02
10. David Gaudu, France, Groupama-FDJ, + 02
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