Valls in command
February 20 th 2015 - 19:50
For the first time in the history of the Tour of Oman, the riders had the privilege and honour to take from the splendid Sultan Qaboos Grande Mosque for stage 4 of the event. On the day, the pack would have to take on the most demanding stage of the Tour with the brutal climb up Jabal Al Akhdhar at the end of a 189-km race. The 139 remaining riders (one non starter: Declercq, TSV) took off at 10:44 with one extra major issue to deal with: the wind. The pack would indeed struggle against a strong face wind.
As soon as the first kilometre, four riders broke away: the Green jersey, Andrea Guardini (AST), the combativity jersey Jef Van Meirhaeghe (TSV) as well as Vandenbergh (EQS) and Van Hoecke (TSV). At km 9, their advantage had reached 2'40 and kept on growing. The first intermediate sprint (km 18.5) was claimed by Guardini ahead of Van Meirhaeghe and Van Hoecke while the pack remained 4'50 adrift. Happy with the points and bonus seconds they had collected, Guardini and Van Meirhaeghe then stopped their efforts and were caught by the peloton at km 23.
Meanwhile Vandenbergh and Van Hoecke continued pushing hard at the front. After 30 kilometres they could enjoy a 7'05 lead over a pack led by the Trek Factory team of red jersey Fabian Cancellara. At a rather slow pace, the gap however continued to increase in the warm temperature (35°C) of Oman. After three hours of racing, the average speed had indeed dropped down to only 31.1km/h and the gap reached a maximum 14'45 at km 73. Teams BMC, Movistar and Trek then decided to take on the chase at a slightly faster pace. With 25kms to go, the front two could still enjoy a 3'50 lead. Ten kilometres later, that gap remained the same. At the second bonus sprint (km 178) won by Vandenbergh ahead of Van Hoecke, the pack led by Guardini, third, had moved closer, at 1'45. The front two were finally caught at km 183.
In the first few kilometres of the climb, Fabian Cancellara (TFR) was dropped, knowing then that he was living his last moments in red. A group of just over twenty riders pulled away with under 5 kilometres to go. After attacking twice, it was then Vincenzo Nibali's turn to struggle wih 3kms to go, leaving ahead of him riders like Fuglsang (AST), van Garderen, Hermans (BMC), Majka (TCS), Moreno (KAT), Pinot (FDJ), Valverde (MOV), Janse Van Rensburg, Meintjes (MTN) and Valls (LAM). In the final kilometre only three men were left in the lead: van Garderen, Majka and Valls.
Valls eventually produced his effort in the last 500m powering away from his main rivals. He crossed the finish line victoriously with a 5” lead over van Garderen, 19” over Valverde and 22” over Majka. Thanks to his success, his first ever in Oman, Rafael Valls conquers the overall leader's Red Jersey. The Spaniard has a 9” advantage over van Garderen and 19” over Valverde with two stages to go in this 6th edition. The points' Green Jersey remains on the shoulders of Andrea Guardini while Louis Meintjes takes command of the best young rider classification (white jersey). Van Meirhaeghe comforts his lead in the combativity standing.