Four years on from his triumph on Green Mountain in the 2012 Tour of Oman, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) repeated the feat on the extended version of the climb on stage 4 of the 2016 race.
The Italian was part of a select group that chased down early attacker Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo Vital Concept) and sparred on the 1.8km section that had been added on to the point where the stage had finished in previous years.
Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) made a move on the double-digit gradients with about 3km to go but Nibali caught and passed the Frenchman, moving clear with the finishing line in sight. The Italian’s teammate Jakob Fuglsang came home for third several seconds later, while Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) emulated some of his exploits at last year’s Vuelta a España, digging deep to finish fourth just behind the Dane.
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Nibali’s victory, his first of the season, sees him take over the race lead from Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), who was never expected to keep hold of the red jersey but nevertheless battled to 10th place on the stage – 1:10 behind the Italian but ahead of climbers Sepulveda and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale).
Nibali’s lead is a slim one, with Bardet poised just 15 seconds back, while Fuglsang is third at 24 seconds. Dumoulin is fourth at 40 seconds and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) is a further 14 seconds back in fifth, as he was on the stage. The tight GC situation could make for some exciting racing on the penultimate stage, which features a triple ascent of the Bousher Al Amerat climb before a speedy run down to the line.
How it happened
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