Another one for Tudor! Muscat Classic sees dramatic finale and sprint win for Rick Pluimers
Cycling
The Muscat Classic gave continuation to the racing calendar in the Middle East and this Friday it was Tudor Pro Cycling Team coming out with another victory, as Rick Pluimers sprinted to victory after a very attacked finale with several groups threatening the victory.
The 'desert classic' featured quite a few short and sharp climbs, and it wasn't a race where everyone left it to the end. Early in the day as Rasmus Bogg Wallin and Adne van Engelen at first formed the day's breakaway, but more riders would come across later on. Outside the final 40 kilometers both would be caught and another head of the race opened up with Max Kanter, Xabier Mikel Azparren and Rayan Boulahoite.
Lorenzo Germani would soon attack from the peloton as those riders were caught, and then the Groupama - FDJ rider himself was joined by Chris Harper, Jay Vine and Pepijn Reinderink. The quarter was going to be quite dangerous as the peloton couldn't catch them into the final 1-kilometer long ascent. As the final climb started Damien Howson launched an attack in the peloton, with a few more moves coming off the front but none exploding the peloton to bits.
Harper and Vine went over the summit, joined by Ruben Guerreiro who bridged across from behind, and a small peloton chasing closely. It was almost a perfect attack, but there were enough sprint interests behind to chase down the move already inside the final kilometer and see a small group sprint. It was Rick Pluimers who won this unusual sprint, bringing in another victory for the Swiss team, with Jenthe Biermans and Henok Mulubrhan completing the podium.
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- I'm very impressed that he didn't lose time on the descend and clawed back to this duo in the final km. Most people would have exploded. What he lacked in punch on the climb, he more than made up for it with his big diesel engine.
KerisVroom23-03-2025 - i remember when not too long ago mathieu was regarded as a real tactical knucklehead. i’m not sure that was ever quite accurate, but it’s certainly the case that over the years he has become a real master tactician. in the biggest races, van der poel rarely makes choices that don’t fully optimize every specific advantage he has.OCexile23-03-2025
- Whatever the result, I believe the strategy by UAE to launch Pogacar was absolutely the right one. Unfortunately, they just were not able to execute it the way they must have planned, being all over the place at the start of the Cipressa.Cooldude23-03-2025
- They are without doubt not just the best two classics riders of this generation, but amongst the best of all time. MvdP is more suited to MSR and PR (which Pog has yet to race), while Pog is now almost untouchable at LBL and Lombardia. RVV is the only one where both basically have an equal chance to win.Cooldude23-03-2025
- bravissima!
maria2024202423-03-2025 - According to Tadej's Strava upload, he went up the Cipressa at an average speed of 37.6kph. Rocket ship! He did the 5.63km verified 'Cipressa' Strava segment in 8:59 minutes, which has a 4.3% average grade and total elevation gain of 229m. Naturally, he got the Strava KOM.Pogboom23-03-2025
- In Track and Field, there's Usain Bolt in the sprints and Kenya's Kipchoge in the marathon. Though Bolt can quite easily beat Kipchoge in the 100m dash, he probably won't even finish a marathon. Tadej won't beat Mathieu in a sprint, yet he wins the TDF while MVDP languishes in 50th place. Both are great champions in their respective fields, but my admiration goes to Tadej for trying.FredMan23-03-2025
- They went into the race as co-leaders!frieders323-03-2025
- He can win that sprint if he plays it right but leaving tha gap was ridiculous ! A spring after 6+ hours isn't a guarantee for MVDPfrieders323-03-2025
- The climbs are steeper on Flanders giving Pogi the advanatge as we saw before when he won!frieders323-03-2025