Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) has victories in a time trial and an uphill finish to his name already this season, and he showcased the full extent of his range by claiming a sprint win for good measure on stage 5 of the Tour of Oman.
The Norwegian has been one of the strongest riders in these early weeks of the 2016 season, and two other fast starters -Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) were also to the fore on a rugged day that brought the Tour of Oman from the pretty coastal outpost of Yiti to the outskirts of Muscat.
Bardet, second to Nibali on Green Mountain the previous afternoon and just 15 seconds down in the overall standings, showed few inhibitions in attacking the Sicilian towards the summit of the third and final time up Bousher Al Amarat, but Nibali and his Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang were equal to the task of shutting him down on the wide twisting highway.
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The rapid descent off the final climb heralded a flurry of attacks, as Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) all trying their luck but as the road flattened out, a group of 30 or so riders was left in front to dispute the stage honours.
There was still the small matter of sweeping up the two survivors from the day’s early break -Pieter Weening (Roompot Oranje Peloton) and Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data), but their brave effort was finally snuffed out with a shade over two kilometres remaining. From there, with almost all of the fast men barring Boasson Hagen and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) distanced during the three ascents of Boucher Al Amarat, the outcome had the feel of a formality, and so it proved.
Boasson Hagen was expertly teed up by his teammate Nathan Haas, and the Norwegian, so placid off the bike, unleashed such fury in the sprint that Van Avermaet was beaten by more than a length. Marco Canola (UnitedHealthcare) was a distant third, ahead of fellow countrymen Simone Ponzi (CCC-Sprandi) and Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-QuickStep).
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