Ben Hermans (BMC) won the battle up Green Mountain on stage 5 of the Tour of Oman, finishing ahead of Fabio Aru (Astana) and Rui Costa (UAE Abu Dhabi) to all but seal the overall victory in the race.
The Belgian, who had taken the red leader's jersey with his punchy victory on stage 2, ground his way up the 5.7km, 10 per cent climb to finish ahead of the more distinguished climbers at the summit.
Aru finished three seconds back, and Costa 11 seconds, with most of the rest of the riders over half a minute down. Romain Bardet, who was second on Green Mountain last year, finished 44 seconds down in what was the first big test of his campaign.
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Asked if it was the biggest victory of his career, Hermans said: "Against the riders that I faced here today, yes I think so.
"It was really hard. Fabio Aru was just behind me at 10 or 15 meters so it was really fast right until the line. Merhawi Kudus attacked and he was just 10 seconds in front of me but I still had a good effort in my legs. I was afraid that the others might come back but in the end it was ok."
Hermans' victory puts him in a comfortable position going into Sunday’s final stage, which is expected to end in a mass sprint.
The 30-year-old has a 22-second buffer on GC over Costa, with Aru third at 35 seconds. It would be the first overall stage race win of his nine-year career.
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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