Visma | Lease a Bike see two riders fly to Oman only to miss the start

Visma travelled to the Middle East with seven riders, but were already down to five starters for Friday’s Muscat Classic. While the rest of the squad raced the 1.Pro one-day event, intended team leader Axel Zingle was only able to complete a training ride.

One day later, the Frenchman also failed to start the Tour of Oman — and the same applied to his lead-out man Owain Doull. Zingle explained the situation as “ill” after posting a 73-kilometre training ride in Oman, leaving Visma on the start line with five riders rather than the usual seven.

So who was left? Sepp Kuss, Bart Lemmen, Tijmen Graat, plus two 19-year-olds from the Development Team: Polish rider Patryk Goszczurny and Belgian Aldo Tailleu. After Lemmen had already shown his form with fifth place in the Muscat Classic, the youngsters also made their presence felt in stage 1 of the Tour of Oman.

Goszczurny slipped into the day’s break, picked up bonus seconds along the way, and as a result was set to start stage 2 in the young rider’s jersey. He was also named the day’s most combative rider.

“It was a beautiful day,” Goszczurny said afterwards via the team’s official channels. “I did have the ambition to make the early break, but I never expected it would turn out like this. I felt really, really good today — and the fact that my effort also earns me two jerseys is fantastic.”

“It would be nice to take one of these jerseys home. The young rider’s jersey might be difficult, but the most combative jersey would be a great target,” added the Pole, who also saw fellow teenager Tailleu finish 16th on the day, in a stage won by Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates–XRG).

“This victory is important for me, it means a lot,” Molano said after the stage. “Last August I had to end my season early because of knee problems, so after five months without racing and two months without riding, this win tastes even sweeter.”