Fernando Gaviria on first win of the season: "I’ve been putting pressure on myself and in my head I knew I needed a victory"

The Colombian sprinter opened up his win count in 2022 early on with a dominant sprint in the Tour of Oman, after being leadout perfectly by the rest of the UAE Team Emirates team.

“Yesterday I told the media I really wanted to win some stages here, I’ve been putting pressure on myself and in my head I knew I needed a victory. Last week in Saudi I came close but just missed it so to take a win today is amazing," Gaviria said.

With Ryan Gibbons and Max Richeze leading him out, UAE Team Emirates managed to dial in the tactics and complete the plan. Richeze was just recently re-signed by the team after Alvaro Hodeg got injured earlier this year, the Argentinian leadout expert will be racing with the team and Gaviria all the way to the Giro d'Italia, where he is expected to do his final race as a professional rider.

Gaviria completed: "The team did really nice work today, they worked like a big family and delivered me perfectly. I’m really happy to be here in Oman in this beautiful country and am hungry for more wins. Let’s see how the legs are today after the massage and build towards more good results here.”

Opening up the race with a win is usually a perfect scenario. Gaviria will on paper have two more opportunities and one of them will be tomorrow as the race heads to Suhar Corniche.