Vital Concept’s Bryan Coquard won the 162.5km first stage in a bunch sprint of the Tour of Oman, which took place between Nizwa and Al Khoudh today.
The Frenchman beat Team Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish (Britain) into second with a time of 3:58:41. Trek-Segafredo’s Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy) rounded out the podium, with Cofidis’ Nacer Bouhanni (France) finishing in fourth.
Dimension Data’s Mark Cavendish claimed silver on stage one of the Tour of Oman today. Photo: Tour of Oman
In a field of 126 riders and 18 teams, DiData’s Scott Davies (Britain) finished in 29th, Merhawi Kudus (Eritrea) 34th, Natnael Berhane (Eritrea) 36th, Nicholas Dlamini (South Africa) 42nd, Jacques Janse van Rensburg 55th and Nick Dougall (South Africa) 71st.
The team set out to look after Cavendish and Kudus for the general classification, Dougall said after the race.
“In the final we just tried to protect Mark as much as possible, but obviously we didn’t have a full sprint lead-out for him.”
Cavendish was “happy to follow the other teams”, Dougall added. “He began surfing their trains, so he was still in a pretty good position. He put in a really good sprint to come second.
“We’re looking forward to the next couple of days, which may be a bit harder, but should suit our climbers more. We’re looking good.”
View more results below.
Stage one
1. Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept, France) 3:58:31
2. Mark Cavendish (Britain, Dimension Data)
3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy, Trek-Segafredo)
4. Nacer Bouhanni (France, Cofidis)
5. Maximilian Walscheid (Germany, Team Sunweb)
6. Adam Blythe (Britain, Aqua Blue Sport)
7. Alexander Kristoff (Norway, UAE Team Emirates)
8. Bram Welten (Netherlands, Team Fortuneo-Samsic)
9. Magnus Cort Nielsen (Denmark, Astana Pro Team)
10. Boris Vallee (Belgium, Wanty-Groupe Gobert)
