By a mere second! Louis Vervaeke wins 2nd Tour of Oman stage by a thread after successful breakaway
Cycling
The Tour of Oman delivered an incredibly dramatic finale to stage 2, as Louis Vervaeke survived the incoming peloton to take a superb win. The Belgian rider took full advantage of the opportunity, and managed to take the win despite having the peloton in his heels in the final sprint.
The second day of the Omani raced promised to deliver an exciting finale, open to several kinds of riders to succeed. But little did they know that the action could be stolen by the men in front who lacked a proper chase throughout the day to keep the gap under control.
Rodrigo Alvaréz, Xabier Mikel Azparren, Magnus Kulset, Louis Vervaeke, Kane Richards and Mohammed Al-Wahibi formed the day's breakaway - whilst Valentin Madouas and Orluis Aular, two of the day's favourites, chased on by themselves trying to bridge across. But the duo was unsuccessful, not only did they burn important energy but the peloton was also lacking teams to do a commited chase, which eventually saw the group gain a lead of up to 6 minutes.
Nevertheless, there was not a complete slack in the peloton. But the pace out front increased as the riders entered the most difficult section of the day, and the front group also began to lose riders. Vervaeke, Kulset and Azparren would be isolated with 49 kilometers to go, and in the climb to Al Jissah with 10 kilometers to go the Soudal - Quick-Step rider went solo off the front. Several riders were dropped from the peloton due to it's high pace including race leader Olav Kooij.
Groupama - FDJ would do most of the chase in the peloton into the final climb, with Vervaeke entering it with a minute of lead. It seemed as if the win was certain, but the gap began to plummet dramatically in the final kilometers. Vervaeke was in sight of the peloton in the finishing straight, but the Belgian held on to a monumental triumph which also earns him the race lead. Valentin Paret-Peintre sprinted to second place whilst Sean Flynn was third on the day.
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Front24223-03-2025