Bennati shines in Samail 1

February 15 ^th 2010 - 16:59

126 riders at the start; 16 teams
Perfect weather, slight wind

After a spectacular first stage on the Muscat Corniche, the splendid city of Nizwa welcomed the riders of the first Tour of Oman. On the day’s menu: 148.5 of riding all the way to Samail. The first breakaway occurred after only 2 kilometres when Sergent (TLS) broke away, but the New-Zealander was rapidly caught back by the pack. Five kilometres later, four riders took off: Gastauer (ALM), Stewart (BMC), Vandewalle (TSV) and Dowset (TLS). Their attempt immediately paid off. The gap grew from 1’25 at km 11 to 5’50 at the first intermediate sprint at Izki (km 33.5) where Stewart beat Gastauer and Vandewalle for precious points and bonus seconds.

At kilometre 42, the front men’s advantage reached a maximum 6’35. From then on the pack led by the Saur-Sojasun team of red jersey Casper started moving closer to the escapees. From 4’50 at km 73, the gap had dropped down to only 27” as the front men reached the second bonus sprint (first passage on the line at Samail, km 133) won by Vandewalle ahead of Dowset and Gastauer. The escapees were finally caught at km 134 by a pack led by Team Sky.

Time then for the strong teams to start preparing for a bunch sprint on the last lap of a circuit designed around Samail. The pack remained together all the way to the line where Daniele Bennati (LIQ) proved to be the fastest. In impressive fashion, the Italian beat Farrar (GRM) and Boasson Hagen (SKY) to claim stage 2 of the event. Thanks to precious bonus seconds captured on the line, Boasson Hagen clinches the overall leader’s red jersey as well as the green and white jerseys. First and third of the day’s intermediate sprint, Kristof Vandewalle conquers the red, green and white jersey for combativeness.