Scaroni… and a Blue Wave on Green Mountain
February 11 th 2026 - 10:47 [GMT 0]
The final stage of the Tour of Oman delivered a climbers’ showdown on the slopes of Green Mountain, where the week’s main favorite, Adam Yates, ultimately failed to turn the situation to his advantage, despite having won the previous two editions. The UAE Emirates XRG leader, who started the day 32 seconds behind red jersey Mauro Schmid, managed to close the gap on the Swiss rider, but not on Italy’s Christian Scaroni, who produced a flawless climb, showing both patience and strength.
Alongside his Spanish teammate Cristian Rodriguez in the final kilometers, Scaroni launched his move in the last 100 meters to claim a prestigious victory atop Green Mountain and simultaneously move into the overall lead. Already a Giro stage winner last year, he now shares this triumph with his Spanish teammate from XDS Astana, who stood alongside him both on the stage podium and in the final overall standings. An Astana blue-jersey one-two had previously been achieved at the Tour of Oman by Alexey Lutsenko and Miguel Angel Lopez, marking the Kazakh team’s fourth overall victory in the Sultanate.
The 2026 podium is completed by Adam Yates, recorded in the same second as Mauro Schmid (4th) and Paul Double (5th), who were separated by the countback of stage placings accumulated since the start of the race.
45 km of Battle to Form the Breakaway
The stage began at the foot of the imposing Nizwa Fort, built in the 17th century. The fifth stage rolled out without Rui Oliveira (UAE Emirates XRG), leaving 110 riders at the start. An ultra-fast pace in the opening kilometers shut down the first attacks, but a group gradually formed at km 16 featuring Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Emirates XRG), Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ United), Florian Dauphin (TotalEnergies), Erlend Blikra, Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché).
Among them, the top three in the points classification prepared to contest the intermediate sprint, but they never gained more than 25 seconds and were reeled in by the peloton at km 32. A new breakaway then took shape between km 39 and km 44, with five riders going clear: Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Florian Dauphin (TotalEnergies), Fredrik Dversnes, and Hvideberg (Uno-X Mobility). They passed through the Al Hilayw intermediate sprint (km 46) with a 55-second advantage.
UAE Emirates XRG and Soudal-Quick Step Control the Break
The five leaders extended their gap to 1’30” at km 50, which grew to 2’15” by km 70. However, the teams of defending champion Adam Yates and Valentin Paret-Peintre—last year’s Green Mountain stage winner—kept the margin under control, limiting it to 2’50” at km 100. Their determination allowed them to enter the final 20 kilometers with a 2’05” lead, but the sustained pressure left them little hope.
At the foot of the final climb, Price-Pejtersen was the first to lose contact, while the peloton trailed the four remaining escapees by just 1’45”.
An Astana One-Two
The breakaway’s fate was sealed on the slopes of Green Mountain. With 3 km to go, Dversnes—the last survivor—was caught by a reduced elite group of around twenty riders, though without Valentin Paret-Peintre, who had been dropped 500 meters earlier. Adam Yates and then Nairo Quintana took turns raising the pace, further thinning the contenders, while red jersey Mauro Schmid was also distanced.
Under the flamme rouge, only Scaroni, Rodriguez (Astana), Yates (UAE), Double, Plapp (Jayco), and Quintana (Movistar) remained in contention. Among them, Luke Plapp attacked with 500 meters to go and looked set for victory, but in the final 100 meters he was caught by Christian Scaroni and Cristian Rodriguez. The two Astana riders formed a winning duo, claiming both the Jabal Al Akhdar stage and the overall title at the Tour of Oman.
