UAE notch up win number seven as Molano dominates Tour of Oman stage 1 sprint

After racing in Australia, Spain, France and Saudi Arabia, the peloton moved on to Oman. The action had already started on Friday with Mauro Schmid’s win in the Muscat Classic, but the Tour of Oman itself began with a rare treat for the fast men: a largely flat stage — and one of only two real sprint opportunities in this year’s race.

Three riders managed to break away in the opening phase: Alex Díaz (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA), José Luis Faura (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Patryk Goszczurny (Visma | Lease a Bike). The 19-year-old Pole made his debut for the WorldTour outfit and made the most of it: he won the day’s only KOM sprint, meaning he would start in the mountains jersey on Sunday.

That was about as much as the break could hope for, because the peloton never gave them much room. With the pace fairly controlled behind, the escapees were kept on a short leash for a long time. After Goszczurny also won two intermediate sprints, he called it a day, leaving his Spanish companions out front before dropping back as the bunch closed to within 20 seconds.

A few kilometres later, Díaz and Faura were caught too, and the lead-out battle could begin. UAE Team Emirates–XRG, Cofidis and Alpecin–Premier Tech all moved to the front to set up the sprint. The pace wasn’t ferocious at first, so a mechanical for Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) didn’t prove too costly.

Only inside the final ten kilometres did things really ramp up. Lotto–Intermarché took over for Steffen De Schuyteneer, but it was Alpecin–Premier Tech who appeared to have the best organised train to launch Thijssen. Molano, however, timed his jump perfectly from the wheel and powered past everyone to take the win. Gaviria finished second, ahead of Thijssen.