Bos, the boss! 1

February 15 ^th 2011 - 16:42

A splendid scenery, by the sea at Al Sawadi, welcomed the 127 riders of the second edition of the Tour of Oman for stage 1 of the event: a 158km ride all the way to Al Seeb. The pack took off at a fairly fast pace despite the face wind and all breakaway attempts were immediately chased by the pack.

Eventually at kilometre 30, three men managed to take off: Kangert (AST), Serry (TSV) and McNally (SKT). Their lead over the pack went from 1’30 at km 34, to 4’30 at the first intermediate sprint (km 41.5) claimed by Serry ahead of Kangert and McNally. The gap reached a maximum 4’55 at km 50.

The second bonus sprint (km 80) was again won by Serry ahead of McNally and Kangert, while the pack remained 3’55 adrift. As the Rabobank, SKY and HTC-Highroad teams took command of the pursuit, the gap carried on dropping. With 20 kilometres to go, the escapees could only count on a 1’18 advantage. They were eventually caught with just under 10kms to go.

The pack remained bunched all the way to the final straight where Theo Bos made the best of the hard work of team mate Graeme Brown to clinch stage victory. The Dutchman, a former track World champion beats Mark Cavendish, back in form after struggling in Qatar, and Roger Kluge (SKS).

Bos takes command of the overall classification and will therefore be carrying the red jersey on tomorrow’s stage 2 between The Wave and Al Wutayya. He also leads the points standings while Pieter Serry captures the white jersey for the best young rider as well as the most aggressive rider's jersey.