Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed his third victory at this year's Tour de France, cruising ahead of Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) in Nîmes on stage 16. 

Despite a frustrating start to the race, winless in the first nine stages, the Belgian began the third week as he finished the second, with his arms in his air, celebrating at 70km/h. 

The victory meant Philipsen is now back in the running for the green jersey. Its wearer, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), was unable to contest the bunch sprint after crashing inside 2km to go. He crossed the line minutes later, wheeled softly by his teammates. 

The day was a poignant one for Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan), record-breaker on stage five, who contested his final sprint finish at the Tour. The Brit placed 17th on the day, in the same city he won his fourth stage on his race debut in 2008. 

The top three on the general classification went unchanged on stage 16, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) still leading Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) by three minutes and nine seconds. 

How it happened

Stage 16 brought the eighth and final opportunity for the fastmen at this year's Tour de France, offering them a straightforward course along the Mediterranean Coast, between Gruissan and Nîmes. 

Keen to protect their sprinters' last chance at glory, teams were cautious about letting a breakaway go after the flag drop. Alpecin-Deceuninck policed moves from the front of the peloton, controlling the bunch for Philipsen, who set out to draw level with Girmay on three stage wins apiece in this edition of the race. 

The first flash of excitement came at the halfway point, with 92km to go, when an intermediate sprint provided a dress rehearsal for the finale. Set up by Alpecin-Deceuninck, the dash was won unexpectedly by Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), a man still in search of his first Grand Tour stage win. Philipsen crossed the line second, and in doing so, clawed back minor green jersey points on Girmay, who placed fourth. 

TotalEnergies rider Thomas Gachignard then used the momentary lull after the sprint to launch a solo move. He nudged out his advantage to over two minutes, but, alone in 35-degree heat, and with a slight headwind, the Frenchman's attack never looked like it would last. He was caught with 25km to go, after 65km out front, and received the day's combativity prize for his effort.

Attention swiftly turned to the run-in to Nîmes, and a succession of roundabouts the bunch would have to navigate. Inside 2km to go, it was on one of them that Girmay hit the floor, ruling out his pop at a fourth stage win. 

Uno-X led under the flamme rouge, before Alpecin-Deceuninck bustled their way to the front of the pack. With 400m to go, Mathieu van der Poel, the world champion, stretched out the peloton with his final lead-out dig, clearing space for Philipsen to lash away from his sprint rivals and cross the line first. 

The race returns to the mountains on Wednesday, with a summit finish to SuperDévoluy, a ski resort in the Alps. 

Results

Tour de france 2024, stage 16: Gruissan > Nîmes (188.6km)

1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 4:11:27
2. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Victorious
3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Sam Bennett (Irl) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
5. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
6. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Cofidis
8. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Ryan Gibbons (Zaf) Lidl-Trek
10. Danny van Poppel (Ned) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time

General classification after stage 16

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 67:35:56
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:09
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +5:19
4. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, +10:54
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +11:21
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:27
7. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates, +13:38
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +15:48
9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +16:12
10. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious, +16:32

So tranquil and relaxed was stage 10 of the Tour de France that Phil Bauhaus, one of the sprint contenders, had an average heart rate of just 110 beats per minute, while his average power was a meagre 140 watts – figures that most amateurs would recognise from a leisurely ride. Alexander Kristoff, another sprinter hoping to win in Saint-Amand-Montrond, had a similar story: “I have a low heart rate,” the Uno-X Mobility rider began, “but still, today I averaged 100. It was not too much."

The explanation behind the low power and heart rate numbers is that for the third time in the race’s 10 stages, no significant breakaway formed, and thus the peloton rode as a complete unit from the beginning to the end. With no-one to catch, there was no need to hurry. The debate around the team buses following the day was whether or not ASO, the race’s organisers, need to have a rethink about how they structure transitional and flat stages.

“If you want more to happen in this stage, you need to organise a special jersey for the intermediate sprints, one that is different to the green jersey,” said Intermarché-Wanty’s sports director Aike Visbeek, moments after watching his rider Biniam Girmay finish second to Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). “Right now, you take away the incentive to spend a lot of energy [with only one intermediate sprint] and there are no mountain points. 

“When you don’t have an intermediate sprint jersey, you get these kinds of stages, and if we change that with a jersey up for grabs with three or four intermediate sprints in the stage then you’d get different dynamics, with teams chasing that jersey, riding offensively and wanting to be in the break. Now there is too little to gain."

Visbeek continued: “My biggest worry is for the spectators: if you want to entertain people but there is nothing to see, you slowly start to have less people going to watch three hours of cycling. They [race organisers, ASO] started with attractive stages and they have got their GC battle heated up… but an intermediate sprint classification would be a good way to make it a bit more exciting.”

Kristoff, 16th in the central French commune, echoed Visbeek's thoughts. “You look at the race course and can you see any reason to go in the break?” the Norwegian asked rhetorically. “There were not a lot of points for the sprint jersey, and zero points for the climb jersey, so there was not much to gain, and no-one wants to waste energy in the biggest race of the world.

“If there was a category four climb or a bonus, there would be more reason to go [in a break]. But nobody gives anything for free now, and everyone knows there was a 99% chance of a sprint, so no-one wanted to take that 1% chance.”

The lack of appetite for forming a break can also be traced to the level-playing field among the sprinters, with Philipsen becoming the fourth rider to win a fast finish so far. The school of thought goes that with a large number of teams optimistic of winning, why would they send a rider or two into a probable doomed break?

“There are a lot of teams with sprinters and the sprint teams are quite equal,” Bahrain-Victorious’s Bauhaus, eighth on the day, said. “10 years ago you knew as a second-row sprinter that it was impossible to win against [Mark] Cavendish, [André] Greipel and [Marcel] Kittel in their prime, but now there is only a small margin between first and 10th. 

“I think a lot of teams have a sprinter who they believe can win, and also there were no King of the Mountains at the start, no [intermediate] sprints, so everyone knows there was nothing to get. It was a super easy day and the bunch sprints here remind me of the UAE Tour: 6, 7km to go and we’re riding at 200 watts, with the GC guys at the front, blocking [the road].”

Philipsen, who ended his win drought with his seventh victory in the race, admitted that “it’s maybe not the coolest to watch sprint stages – it might be good to lay your head on the sofa and sleep a little bit until the sprint.”

There are three more expected sprint stages remaining in the race, including on Thursday and Friday.

Sir Mark Cavendish took the Tour de France stage win record with victory on stage five in Saint Vulbas, his 35th stage triumph at the French Grand Tour.

The Astana Qazaqstan sprinter was the first to go clear on the final bend and crossed the line clearly in front of everyone else in the peloton to make history.

He overtook Eddy Merckx's long-standing record of 34 stage wins in the process, after surfing the wheels, jumping from Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) to go for the win.

Second was Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) in third.

The yellow jersey remains on the shoulders of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

The man from the Isle of Man, still racing at 39, was knighted last month, but now has the accolade he wanted the most.

"We just wanted to get the run in to do it, I guess," Cavendish said post-stage. "Woah. I’m in a little bit of disbelief. Astana put a big gamble on this year to make sure we had a good Tour de France. We gambled on coming here and winning at least one stage. That’s a big gamble for my boss, Alexandre Vinokourov. "That shows an ex bike rider, one who knows what the Tour de France is. You know you have to go all in, and we’ve done it. We worked exactly what we wanted to do, how we built the team, the equipment. Every detail has gone specifically to today.

"You see what it means. It doesn’t mean we're going to be top of the UCI rankings, but the Tour de France is bigger than cycling."

"It normally takes me days to get into it," Cavendish said, reflecting on his struggles on stage one. "I know it works. If everyone knew how it was, everyone would be a bike rider, my job would be a lot harder. I've done 15 Tours now. I don’t like having bad days, I don’t like to suffer, but I know it’s just in the head, and if you get through it you can have an opportunity. Things have to go your way. 

"We didn’t nail it as a team, like we wanted to do, but the boys got me there in the best position. I shot onto whatever train was going, and was able to win. It’s beneficial to be able to use your head a bit."

How it happened

A surprising early attack came from Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), just 7km into the day, but they were soon caught. 

The attacking kept going for the first 25km of the day, with Clément Russo (Groupama-FDJ) attempting to go clear with 153km to go. He was chased by the Swiss pair of Stefan Küng (also Groupama-FDJ) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), but these two could not get clear. 

Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) could get up the road, however, joining Russo with 143km to go. Their gap got to almost five minutes over the day. 

Russo was the first to the top of the Côte du Cheval Blanc to take maximum points from that.

Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck were very much in control of the peloton for most of the day, aiming to keep the breakaway in check.

With 59km to go, a sizable crash - one of the first major ones of the whole race - saw Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) held up or come down, among others. It was Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), the yellow jersey, who was at the front of it, almost colliding with a traffic island. The chain reaction brought down those behind him.

The first across the line at the intermediate sprint, with 54km to go, was Russo. However, the action was more happening behind in the peloton, where many of the top sprinters were aiming for bonus points in the green jersey competition.

It was Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who took the 11 points, beating Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the dominant sprinter last year, looked a little out of sorts here.

The heavens opened late on in the day, once the race very much on, making the day that bit harder. 

The break were caught with about 36km to go, which allowed Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) to extend his lead in the mountains classification by one point.

From the top of the Côte de Lhuis, it became a fast race towards the finish, with the GC teams very much to the fore to protect their designated riders.

With 28km to go, the Uno-X Mobility sprinter Alexander Kristoff crashed on the descent from the Lhuis, but remounted. Astana Qazaqstan were pushing on the pace at the front at the same time. 

The speed with which the final 45 minutes were tackled was incredible, as the sprint teams knew this was a huge opportunity. The last 5km saw two big corners, so positioning was hugely important.

Into the last curve, Uno-X Mobility surged forward for Kristoff. Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan), who had lost his lead-out train in the chaos, surfed the wheels, but eventually popped up and had a clear run at the line to take an historic victory.

The moment was marred by a crash for Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

Results

Tour de France 2024, stage five: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Saint Vulbas (177.4km)

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Astana Qazaqstan, in 4:08:46
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Arnaud De Lie (Bel) Lotto Dstny
5. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL
6. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Israel-Premier Tech
7. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
8. Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
9. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
10. Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time

General classification after stage five

1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 23:15:24
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +45sec
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +50sec
4. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, +1:10
5. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:14
6. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +1:16
7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal-Quick Step, +1:32
8. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at s.t.
9. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +3:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:21

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) continued his perfect stage race record this season, sealing the overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday afternoon. 

The two-time Tour de France winner, who successfully defended his O Gran Camiño title last month, finished comfortably within the peloton on stage seven in San Benedetto del Tronto to secure the blue leader's jersey. 

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) won the flat final stage in a bunch sprint, doubling up on victories at the race.

With little climbing on the menu, Vingegaard's overall race win seemed a foregone conclusion before the rollout. The Dane entered the final day following back-to-back victories on stages five and six, which gave him an advantage of one minute and 24 seconds that proved unassailable.

The final podium, and indeed the entire top 10, remained unchanged from stage six, with Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) in second and third respectively.

"It's one of the biggest victories I've had, for sure," Vingegaard said afterwards. "I'm very, very happy to have taken the overall victory here, as well as two stages. It's a very big victory for me, and I will enjoy it, for sure."

Sunday’s stage at Tirreno-Adriatico was raced at an average speed of 47.179km/h, a new record in the event’s 59-year history. 

A six-rider breakaway characterised the lion's share of the stage, containing notably Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and birthday boy Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers). The group’s foray lasted until inside 15km to go, when, on the finishing circuit in San Benedetto del Tronto, they were caught by the sprint teams. 

Uno-X, riding for Alexander Kristoff, led through two dicey turns in the final 3km, before sending Søren Wærenskjold on a flier down the finishing straight. 

Milan instinctively took up the chase, before waiting for his teammate Simone Consonni, who towed him back into contention to sprint for victory. “Simone did a fantastic lead-out for me,” Milan said afterwards. “Like the last one, it’s super special. It was a hard and tough day, with a super hard pace.

"In the beginning, we knew it would be really hard. We wanted to do a nice pace, just to not leave a big gap for the break. In the front, there were super strong riders, so we had to push a lot in the beginning. In the end, with such a high speed, [the bunch sprint] is coming." 

Vingegaard's overall victory brought further joy to Visma-Lease a Bike, who won Paris-Nice earlier in the day through Matteo Jorgenson. 

Results

Tirreno-Adriatico 2024, stage seven: San Benedetto del Tronto > San Benedetto del Tronto (154km)

1. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 3-15-51
2. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X
3. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Movistar
4. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
5. Stanisław Aniołkowski (Pol) Cofidis
6. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Arkéa - B&B Hotels
7. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
8. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti Kometa
9. Clément Venturini (Fra) Arkéa - B&B Hotels
10. Enrico Zanoncello (Ita) VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè, all at same time

Final general classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 26-22-23
2. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, +1-24
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe, +1-52
4. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates, +2-20
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2-24
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +2-25
7. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3-10
8. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, +4-02
9. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +4-05
10. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa - B&B Hôtels, +4-24

Performance cycling kit can be expensive, but Alexander Kristoff’s Tour de France sunglasses might just raise the bar.

The Norweigian sprinter, who powered his way to victory and the yellow jersey on stage one of the Tour, was wearing some striking shades on the podium after his win. 

Kristoff was adorned in a custom pair of gold-plated Scicon Sports Aerowing sunglasses, which were decorated with 36 Brilliant Cut diamonds - 18 on each side - which took the shape of a number one on the arms of the glasses. 

Thanks to the jewels and gold lining these sunnies, the cost of these glasses is estimated at €5,000, or around £4,449. 

Kristoff then kept the custom glasses coming on the following two stages of the race, switching to yellow shades on stage two to celebrate his time as race leader, then jumping to green glasses as he wore the points jersey on day three.

The diamond glasses were Scicon’s way of celebrating the release of the new Aerowing glasses and the brand’s debut eyewear in the Tour de France. 

We’re told more custom designs could be on the way in the future.  

Scicon is best known for its range of bike bags and cases, but recently branched out into performance eyewear, which are currently worn by WorldTour teams UAE Team Emirates, Israel Start-Up Nation and NTT Pro Cycling.

Kristoff isn’t the only rider to be dressed up in some expensive kit during the 2020 Tour. 

Race leader Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) is reportedly wearing a $120,500 (£89,000) Richard Mille watch during the race, according to Cycling Tips. 

The RM 67-02 watch is made of carbon and titanium components, weighing just 32 grams, so it’s not likely to hold back the French superstar.  

>>> Anthony Perez suffered multiple injuries after colliding with team car and hitting cliff wall at Tour de France 

Alaphilippe went to visit Richard Mille back in July, presumably to pick up his new timepiece, and shared a picture of the moment on Instagram.   

If Alexander Kristoff does the school run at the speed he showed on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice at the end of stage one of the Tour de France, it's unlikely his kids have ever been late.

The Norwegian seemed almost surprised that he outclassed rivals such as Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) to take the first yellow jersey and his fourth French Grand Tour stage win.

"I'm 33 years old and have four kids but I still managed to win the biggest race in the world so it gives hope for everyone," Kristoff said after the finish. "The first stage in the Tour...it couldn't start better, and the yellow jersey is a bonus, [I'm wearing it for the] first time in my career.

"I'm proud and humbled, I will enjoy it tomorrow. I guess I will lose it but I will enjoy the day riding in it."

>>> ‘Chapeau to the whole peloton minus Astana,’ says Luke Rowe after chaotic Tour de France 2020 stage one

The finale looked like it was shaping up for Sam Bennett to take a first yellow jersey for Ireland since Stephen Roche in 1987, but Kristoff proved to have the freshest legs after a stressful, crash-marred day to power across the line first.

"I knew I was going to be alone in the sprint [without team-mates], that was clear, and I know a guy who's really good alone is Peter Sagan, so I stayed on his wheel," the UAE Team Emirates rider explained.

"Then I saw Cees Bol had some team-mates and he started early so it was a good lead-out for me, then I had good legs and went out from his wheel and then in the last 50 metres I was quite confident I would take it.

"I can't quite describe the feeling. I was feeling good in the sprint training [before the Tour] so hopefully I can take more stages later on."

Kristoff had apparently turned up to the Critérium du Dauphiné and taken one look at the roadbook before realising there weren't any flat stages to compete in. Instead, he struggled through five mountainous days before missing the time cut on the final stage.

He says the Dauphiné, therefore, offered his a "suffer camp" to prepare for the Tour, and that he won't go out of his way to compete with Sagan for the green jersey, but will contest the intermediate sprints to keep his legs fresh for other stage opportunities later in the race.

"I've never been close to winning the green jersey because Peter has been quite far away, there's always a lot of points between us," Kristoff admitted. "But this is a special Tour and a lot can happen. I'll try and get points, not necessarily for the green jersey, but to prepare for the sprints later on, to practice."

As well as other potential stage victories, Kristoff's main objectives are the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in October. In this strange season, the strongman Norwegian may yet outlast his opponents and mop up more victories than anyone would have believed he could at the start of the year.

Alexander Kristoff fought hard to a huge sprint victory on stage one of the Tour de France 2020, after a nightmare day for the peloton.

The skies poured down on riders for the opening day of racing around Nice, with countless riders hitting the tarmac in wet and treacherous conditions.

But after the peloton decided to neutralise the middle section of the race, the sprint teams took on the charge in the closing kilometres.

Into the final kilometre the sprint favourites were still at the front of the bunch, with Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) the favourite for the win.

As the sprint opened up, Bennett was late to jump as Cees Bol (Sunweb) looked dangerous and hit the front of the race.

Bol faded rapidly as Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) fired past on the right hand side of the road, with world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) close behind.

Kristoff's victory means he takes the race lead for stage two and will wear the first yellow jersey of his career.

How it happened 

The first stage of the 2020 Tour de France looked to be an unpredictable day of racing, covering a lumpy 156km starting and finishing in Nice.

Riders would set off from the famous Promenade des Anglais on the coast and head inland to take on a challenging climb multiple times before finishing back on the seafront.

The major climb of the day was the category three Cote de Rimiez (5.7km-long at 5.1 per cent) which appeared twice at 48km and again at 100km.

After the second ascent of the climb, the peloton would continue up to Aspremont then on to another crest at Levens before the rapid descent back down to sea level, which ended at 129km.

Then it was a 30km flat-out downhill run to the finish line, which was a pure drag race to the line. 

Before the stage there were questions about which sprinters would make it over the climbs with the legs to contest the finish, but as the heavens the discussion turned to which riders would make it through the day without crashing.

As soon as the flag dropped the action started as three riders attacked and were instantly allowed to maintain a gap, as Michael Schar (CCC Team), Fabian Grellier and Cyril Gautier made up the day’s breakaway.

That trio maxxed out their advantage at around three minutes before the peloton began to reel them back.

Over the next 100km of racing, the skies clouded over and heavy rain began to batter the peloton and made the roads treacherously slick.

Amongst those caught in crashes were Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) who crashed multiple times while trying to rejoin the peloton. Countless others also fell in the racing. 

>>> Watch Nairo Quintana’s rapid recovery after crash in awful weather during Tour de France 2020 stage one  

Eventually the breakaway trio were all swept up by the bunch with just under 60km left to the line, as the main body of riders decided to cruise the middle section of the race to avoid further crashes

On the final descent from Levens, Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) gestured to slow and the race was unofficially neutralised by the riders, that is until Astana opted to up the pace and string out the race, which ended abruptly when Miguel Ángel López lost the wheel on a corner, kept the bike upright but went wide on a turn and hit a road sign headfirst.

López was uninjured by the crash resulted in some stern words from Jumbo-Visma towards the Astana riders. 

The race didn’t fire up again until inside 20km, when the sprint teams decided to up the pace on the flats heading back towards the coast, with Deceuninck, Jumbo-Visma and NTT Pro Cycling taking on the work to set up the sprint. 

At exactly the 3km mark, a huge crash blew up around half way through the peloton which brought down the likes of Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and multiple others.

Shortly before the crash the organisers had announced that GC times will automatically be taken from the 3km mark however, so no overall contenders lost time in the fall. 

Into the final kilometre Bennett and Quick-Step were too far back and had to make up a lot of ground, as Trek-Segafredo led the bunch for the world champion.

Quick-Step then hit the front with just over 200m from the line on the left of the road, but it was Cees Bol who got the best early sprint and went to the front.

Bol didn’t have the legs however, as Kristoff then launched his move and powered clear with Pedersen left to take second, while Bol held on for third. 

Kristoff now moves into the race lead and takes the first yellow jersey of his career. 

The Tour de France 2020 continues on stage two with a big day of climbing around Nice, with 186km of racing including two first category climbs, a second category climb and a final uncategorised ramp 20km from the line.  

Results

Tour de France 2020, stage one: Nice to Nice (156km)

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 3-46-23

2. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo

3. Cees Bol (Ned) Sunweb

4. Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

6. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis

7. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling

8. Bryan Cocquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM

9. Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie

10. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 3-46-13

2. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, at 4 seconds

3. Cees Bol (Ned) Sunweb, at 6s

4. Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 10s

5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

6. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis

7. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling

8. Bryan Cocquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM

9. Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie

10. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, all at same time

Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) put in a powerful sprint from a reduced group to take victory in the 2019 Ghent-Wevelgem.

The Norwegian launched from a perfect position after jumping onto the wheel of the attacking Direct Energie rider Damien Gaudin, and launched his sprint in the middle of the road with just under 100 metres to go. No-one was able to match his speed, with John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale) attempting to latch on to his wheel. They could do nothing to stop Kristoff though, who won clear ahead of former winner Degenkolb with Naesen in third.

A sprint hadn't looked inevitable with a four-man group getting away with 5km to go after Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) attacked.

Jack Bauer (Mitchelton-Scott), Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education First) and Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Jumbo-Visma) were the riders to join him, and they made to within the final kilometre before they were caught by the peloton having hesitated.

How it happened

Unusually an early break wasn't able to get away in the 2019 Ghent-Wevelgem, with over 50km passing by in the 251.5km race with no attackers able to stay away.

With 197km to go though a split in the bunch saw a group of big name riders go clear, with Peter Sagan, Pascal Ackermann, Rüdy Selig (all Bora-Hansgrohe), Tim Declercq (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott), Wout van Aert, Maarten Wynants, Mike Teunissen, Taco van der Hoorn, Danny van Poppel (all Jumbo-Visma), Luke Rowe (Sky), Cees Bol (Sunweb), John Degenkolb, Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven, Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus), Niki Terpstra (Direct Energy), Jan-Willem Van Schip (Roompot) all in the front group.

They gained an advantage of over a minute, with Lotto-Soudal and CCC Team doing a lot of the chasing having failed to put a rider in the group

Over the Kemmelberg with 75km to go Van Aert put the pressure on to cause a reduction in numbers in the front group, but it was an uncategorised climb with 67km remaining that caused more damage, with four riders in Sagan, Trentin, Teunissen and Theuns escaping with the gap down to around 35 seconds.

That grew for them to a maximum advantage of 49 seconds with 50km to go, but the gap was narrow enough that Rowe was then able to bridge across from the peloton with 43km to go.

The now five riders in front worked well together to maintain a gap, but there was little they could do against the numbers of Deceuninck-Quick-Step, who were working hard to peg them back in service of their sprinter Elia Vivini. The gap was now drifting, with just nine seconds in hand with 20km to go.

With 18km to go they were brought back, with Rowe hanging out front for an extra kilometre in an attempted solo counter. Quick-Step continued to lead the peloton, but were down to just Zdeněk Štybar and Philippe Gilbert who were having to mark a number of attacks.

With those two now beginning to tire, Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) attacked with 5km to go with Jack Bauer (Mitchelton-Scott), Sebastian Langeveld (EF Education First) and Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Jumbo-Visma) all following.

A lull in the pace from the peloton gave them around 100m advantage, and into the final 2km it looked as though they may have a chance if they could just keep their work ethic going.

Štybar and Gilbert were somehow able to muster some more energy to return to the front and pull things back, with some hesitation in the front four playing into the peloton's hands as they were caught just under the flamme rouge.

It was now down to the sprinters to duel it out, however last year's runner-up Viviani looked to be out of position and boxed in by other riders as they entered the final 200m.

Damien Gaudin (Direct Energie) tried an early sprint to take the win, but that move gave Alexander Kristoff the perfect lead out towards the line.

By the time he had launched his powerful sprint it was too late for anyone to react in time to catch him, with John Degenkolb and Oliver Naesen only able to follow him to take podium spots as Kristoff celebrated victory.

Results

Ghent-Wevelgem 2019 (251.5km)

1 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 5-26-04

2 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

3 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale

4 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus

5 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma

6 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie

7 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott

8 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

9 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain-Merida

10 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin, all same time

Alexander Kristoff was forced to walk the final portion of the Hatta Dam climb of the UAE Tour, after snapping the rear of his Colnago frame clean in half.

The Norwegian powerhouse walked up part of the brutal 400m climb on stage four, after a major mechanical took him out of contention.

It appears that the UAE Team Emirates rider’s derailleur broke during the dash for the line after he was caught in an earlier crash, and snapped his frame in the process.

>>> ‘UCI penalising the way we race with fines,’ says Alex Dowsett

In an Instagram post after the stage, Kristoff said: “A lot of sand on the road today in the UAE Tour.

“I was involved in a crash five or six kilometres from the finish, my bike got banged up a bit and in the finish climb it broke unfortunately.

“Anyone, I used a lot of energy to get back in the pack in the last 5km so would not have been able to beat Caleb Ewan.”

Pictures posted on social media after the stage show Kristoff’s frame snapped clean in half during the incident.

Kristoff rides a Colnago Concept, the Italian brand’s first ever aero race setup.

The bike was designed using a wind tunnel to reduce the drag, making it a rapid machine for sprinters.

Team-mate Fernando Gaviria and Kristoff were involved in a crash in the closing stages, with the latter’s bike being hit from behind.

>>> Remco Evenepoel says motorbikes ‘should have more respect for the peloton’ after UAE Tour crash

His team said that Kristoff changed gears in the final, triggering a whip effect in the rear derailleur, which was out of alignment due to the earlier crash.

Kristoff is currently riding in the UAE Tour in support of his Colombian team-mate Gaviria.

But the stage four sprint to Hatta Dam, a short climb that hits gradients of 17 per cent, was Kristoff’s opportunity to fight for victory.

The the frame snap took him out of the battle, as Lotto-Soudal’s Caleb Ewan blasted past his rivals to take the win.

Last year’s overall winner Alexey Lutsenko stamped his authority on this year’s Tour of Oman on Sunday, winning stage two at Al Bustan.

In what was an exciting final, the 26-year-old Astana rider attacked a strung out peloton on a ramp preceding the final classified climb, and was able to hold on to finish alone.

However, even as the Kazakh champion entered the final uphill straight to the line, the result was not in the bag, the peloton closing him down fast.

Eventually yesterday’s opening stage winner, Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) led home a group of 35 riders to finish second, just three seconds back, with Dimension Data’s South African Ryan Gibbons just behind in third. 

Having placed second on the same finish last year, Greg Van Avermaet (CCC) had targeted the stage, and tried to bridge to Lutsenko on the final classified climb, but was unable to make contact, eventually finishing 15th.

The result puts Lutsenko into second place overall, Kristoff’s second place enough for him to retain the leader’s red jersey.

How it happened

In a repeat performance of yesterday’s opening stage, four riders escaped the moment the flag dropped for the start of the 156.5km stage between Royal Cavalry Oman and Al Bustan.

Aritz Bagües (Euskadi-Murias), former Belgian champion Preben van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and his two compatriots, Jérôme Baugnies (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Lionel Taminaux (Wallonie-Bruxelles) soon opened a lead of 2.15, with just 10 kilometres behind them.

In the peloton, while he held little hope of retaining the leader’s jersey, the UAE Team Emirates team of stage one winner Alexander Kristoff led the bunch through the dusty, undulating hinterland inland from the nation’s capital, Muscat.

On the approach to the first classified climb at Fanja, with 49km gone, the leaders’ gap had risen to 3-30, though the battle for the king of the mountains classification was such that the group split into two.

However, after van Hecke took maximum points, the quartet reformed on the descent, the lead stretching to 4-30 where it stayed until Taminaux won the day’s first intermediate sprint at Saal, with 83km to go.

It was after this point that the gap began to come down, the bunch knocking a minute off the break’s lead, with Van Avermaet’s CCC squad and Lutsenko’s Astana team leading the charge.

Van Hecke attacked the break on the second of the four climbs, eking out a lead of 40 seconds on two chasers as Taminaux was conclusively dropped back to the closing bunch.

With gap now below 50 seconds, Van Hecke once again attacked on the penultimate short sharp ascent of Al Hamriyah, but when CCC surged from behind, he was finally swallowed up 16km out.

Though there are only three classified climbs during  tomorrow’s 192.5km stage, the longest day of the race overall is likely to prove more challenging than Sunday’s. The uphill finish at Qurayyat is far tougher than today’s, and with the final circuit ascending it twice, a smaller group could be contesting the win.

Results

Tour of Oman 2019, stage two: Royal Cavalry Oman to Al Bustan (156.5km)

1. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, in 4-07-19

2. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, at 3 seconds

3. Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data

4. Iuri Filosi (Ita) Delco Marseille Provence

5. Oliver Naesen (Bel) Ag2R La Mondiale

6. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Merida

7. Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha Alpecin

8. Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

9. Clément Venturini (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale

10. Magnus Cort (Den) Astana, all at same time

General classification after stage two

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 7-01-56

2. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, at 3 seconds

3. Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data, at 12s

4. Clément Venturini (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale, at 16s

5. Iuri Filosi (Ita) Delco Marseille Provence

6. Magnus Cort (Den) Astana

7. Greg van Avermaet (Bel) CCC

8. Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Tem Emirates

9. Élie Gesbert (Fra) Arkéa Samsic

10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time

Alexander Kristoff won stage one of the Tour of Oman on Saturday, out-sprinting his rivals to take the first win of his season. The Norwegian hit the front with 70m to go and crossed the line ahead of Frenchmen Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept-B&B Hotels) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis).

The closing kilometre was straight as die but with the wind coming from the sea to the peloton’s right, timing the sprint was essential for Kristoff, who sprinted in the saddle throughout the final.

A former European champion, Kristoff is the third sprinter from his UAE Team Emirates squad to take a victory this season, after Fernando Gaviria’s success in South America and Belgian Jasper Philipsen’s at the Tour Down Under.

Kristoff was clearly relieved to get the win, saying: “All the sprinters on the team have been winning so it was about time I was winning a race.”

Kristoff has attended every one of the ten editions of the race, winning at least one stage a year since 2014, and with nine wins has more than any other rider.

How it happened

The pan flat opening stage of the 10th edition of the Tour of Oman started at Al Sawadi Beach in a straight line, parallel with the coast, to Suhar Corniche, and with a breeze blowing off the sea, crosswinds had been expected.

That did not deter the early, four man breakaway, who attacked the moment the flag dropped after the 4.5km neutralised zone, building an early lead.

Alexis Guerin (Delco-Marseille Provence), Sergio Rodriguez (Euskadi Murias), Emiel Planckaert (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Michael Schär (CCC) built an advantage in excess of three minutes before they had reached the 20km mark.

By the time the escapees reached the first intermediate sprint of the day, they led the peloton by more than four minutes, which would be their maximum advantage. There, in Al Hadib it was Guerin who took the honours, the three bonus seconds and the same number of points towards the sprinter’s classification.

It was after this sprint that the leaders’ gap began to drop, a minute being lost in just five kilometres. On the front French Pro Conti squad Vital Concept-B&B Hotels were working for sprinter, Bryan Coquard hoping to repeat his opening stage win of last year’s race.

Just before the feed zone, with 63km remaining, the crosswinds finally hit, causing an increase in pace and a split in the bunch, also bringing the gap to the leaders down to just 1.15. However, as the peloton reformed, once again the gap went out, increasing to 2-45 as they entered the closing 35km.

With 32km to go Schär won the final intermediate sprint and, having finished second in the previous one, was set to wear the gold jersey of the most aggressive rider classification.

After this sprint, the gap once again began to be eroded as the sprinters’ teams took control, setting up the bunch finish.

Schär and Kristoff are the only two riders to have ridden each edition of the Tour of Oman, and while Kristoff is the record stage winner, the Swiss rider has never known victory, making do only with the breakaway.

“I went to my director in the neutralisation and said I would go in the break, I was joking but I had to hold my word,” he laughed afterwards.

“I really like it,” he continued when asked why he keeps returning. “It’s different here there’s a lot of culture and you feel the people and that culture.

“It’s also perfect preparation for the classics, it has an absolutely balanced parcours, something for the sprinters, for the puncheurs, for the true climber and even for the breakaway guys.”

Schär is likely to be busy on Sunday’s lumpy 156.5km stage between Royal Cavalry Oman and Al Bustan. This is a stage for the all-rounder and his CCC team mate Greg van Avermaet has identified it as one for him.

Results

Tour of Oman 2019, stage one: Al Sawadi Beach to Sugar Corniche (138.5km)

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates in 2-54-50

2. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels

3. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis

4. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data

5. Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Direct Energie

6. Mikel Aristi (Esp) Euskadi Murias

7. Boy van Poppel (Ned) Roompot Charles

8. Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana

9. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen Baloise

10. Emils Liepins (Lat) Wallonie-Bruxelles all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates in 2-54-40

2. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotels at 04 sec

3. Michael Schär (Swi) Team CCC at 05 sec

4. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis at 06 sec

5. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Dimension Data at 10 sec

6. Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Direct Energie

7. Mikel Aristi (Esp) Euskadi Murias

8. Boy van Poppel (Ned) Roompot Charles

9. Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana

10. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen Baloise

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) has secured victory in the 2018 Tour de France after arriving safely to the finish line in Paris on stage 21.

Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) won the final stage of the 105th edition, taking victory in a sprint finish ahead of John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ).

The sprint finish had been set up in the final lap of eight circuits around the Champs-Élysées, after late solo breaker Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) was caught just 200m from the finish line.

Degenkolb was the first of the sprinters to go after a fine lead-out by his Trek team-mates, but he faced a battle with Démare accelerating next to him on the right hand side and Kristoff jumping off his wheel and passing him on the left.

In the end it was the Norwegian that was able to hold his power to the line to take a famous victory after struggling to beat the other sprinters during this Tour.

Green jersey Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was unable to feature in the sprint, starting too far back behind the riders in front and only able to take eighth place.

Race leader Thomas rolled across the line just behind them, alongside four-time winner and team-mate Chris Froome, to confirm a stunning overall victory.

How it happened

After a gruelling three weeks of racing, the riders of the 105th Tour de France faced one more stage on the final road from Houilles to the Champs-Élysées in Paris on stage 21.

As is tradition, the race rode as a procession for the first part of the 116km distance, with no attacks until the riders reached Paris.

After the sipping of champagne by yellow jersey Geraint Thomas and posing for photos, veteran French rider Sylvain Chavanel, in his 18th Tour de France appearance, was given the honour of riding into Paris in front of the peloton.

Behind, Team Sky led the peloton on to the Champs-Élysées, with the racing then beginning as they crossed the finish line for the first time with 54.6km to go.

The first of eight laps saw a breakaway establish, with Taylor Phinney (EF Education First-Drapac), Michael Schär (BMC), Silvan Dillier (Ag2r La Mondiale), Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin), Guillaume Van Keirsbluck (Wanty Groupe Gobert) and Damien Guadin (Direct Energie) getting out front.

They were only able to establish a maximum gap of 47 seconds as Bora-Hansgrohe and Groupama-FDJ worked hard on the front to set things up for their respective sprinters Peter Sagan and Arnaud Démare.

It remained the same for some time, but the break’s gap was cut significantly as they came through the line with two laps to go, with Cofidis working on the front of the peloton to bring it down to just 17 seconds.

By the time the break had reached the Place de la Concorde for the penultimate time with around 8km to go, the peloton were looming down on them and it looked like they would certainly be caught.

Politt made a last ditch attack by himself ahead of the final lap, but the pace of the peloton was too high and he was finally caught with 5.8km to go.

The sprinters’s teams then jostled for position at the front of the bunch, as they sped towards the finish.

Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) made a late dash out front with 2.3km to go, but was caught as Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Yves Lampaert broke clear and made a solid effort to stay out front as a pair.

It was Lampaert who lasted the longest, and put in a worrying gap for the sprint teams who had to hurry to try and bring the Belgian champion back.

He was eventually caught with 200m to go, and it was Trek-Segafredo who made the final turn in the lead, ready to drop Degenkolb off for his sprint.

But it was Kristoff who couldn’t be matched as he powered up the left of the road, taking his third career victory at the Tour de France.

All the other classification leaders arrived safely to the finish, but the day belongs to Geraint Thomas, who takes his first Grand Tour crown with overall victory.

The Tour de France 2018 concluded with the final crossing of the line in Paris, with 145 riders completing the 3,351km over 21 stages.

Results

Tour de France 2018, stage 21: Houilles to Paris, Champs-Élysées (116km)

1 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 2-46-36

2 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

3 Arnaud Dèmare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

4 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

5 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis

6 Max Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors

7 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

8 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

9 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert

10 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, all same time

Final general classification

1 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, in 83-17-13

2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 1-51

3 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at 2-54

4 Primož Roglič (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 3-22

5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 6-08

6 Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 6-57

7 Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar Team, at 7-37

8 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates, at 9-05

9 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 12-37

10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 14-18

Final points classification

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe, 477 pts

2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, 246 pts

3 Arnaud Dèmare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, 203 pts

Final climber classification

1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors, 170 pts

2 Warren Barguil (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic, 91 pts

2 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, 76 pts

Final youth classification

1 Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, in 83-39-26

2 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky, at 5-39

3 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, at 22-05

Final team classification

1 Movistar Team (Esp), in 250-24-53

2 Bahrain-Merida (Bah), at 12-33

3 Team Sky (GBr), at 31-14

Super combative prize

Dan Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates

Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) won the opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour, out-sprinting Andrea Guardini (Bardiani CSF) and Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) on a flat first day.

Kristoff's UAE Team Emirates team were nowhere to be seen through the closing kilometres, largely leaving Kristoff to his own devices as LottoNL-Jumbo, Quick-Step Floors, and Katusha-Alpecin all attempted to take control.

However it was Mitchelton-Scott who led put Caleb Ewan into a good position with 300m, the young Australian crouching low over his bike to open the sprint.

But Ewan seemed to fade as the line approached, leaving Kristoff to surge past on the left, taking his second victory of the year as Ewan was edged out of second by Andrea Guardini.

How it happened

The opening stage of the Abu Dhabi Tour saw action before the flag had even dropped, with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) crashing in the neutral zone and falling on the shoulder that he broke at the 2017 Tour de France.

Cavendish remounted his bike, but was clearly in pain as he abandoned and climbed into the team car just five kilometres after the official start of the race. Dimension Data later announced that he had suffered concussion and whiplash in the crash, with race organisers blaming the crash on automatic sensors on an official car, causing it to brake which led to a ripple effect through the bunch.

With Cavendish out of the race, a five rider break formed early on, consisting of Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing), Charles Planet (Novo-Nordisk), Vincenze Albanese (Bardiani CSF), and Nikolay Trusov (Gazprom-Rusvelo).

That fivesome enjoyed a maximum lead of around three minutes on the 189km stage which was largely run along an out-and-back route through desert scenery.

With 160km of the route being run on straight roads, the break was almost constantly within sight of the peloton making the chase easy to judge as a number of teams shared the work on the front of the peloton.

One by one the breakaway riders dropped away, with Skujins the first to drops back to the peloton, followed by Albanese and Trusov after Caruso attacked with Planet with 27km remaining.

Caruso did the lion's share of the work with Planet sitting in his wheel, before losing patience with his breakaway companion and going solo with 20km to go, still enjoying a lead of around 1-20.

>>> Abu Dhabi Tour live TV guide

However with the pace going up in the peloton, that gap quickly dropped and Caruso was caught with 13.5km remaining, leaving it up to the sprinters' teams to control the race on the run towards the line.

The real action kicked off with around five kilometres remaining as the lead-out trains began to form with Katusha-Alpecin lined out on the right-hand soide of the road battling for dominance with LottoNL-Jumbo and Quick-Step Floors on the left.

A surge in speed from LottoNL-Jumbo saw them win that battle as the race was lined out with 2.5km to go as Katusha were forced back into the centre of the bunch to regroup.

However Lotto seemed to have gone too hard too early, leaving Quick-Step and Mitchelton-Scott to set the pace under the flamme rouge.

The Australian team proved the strongest, putting Ewan into a strong position to sprint for the line. But it was Kristoff who proved the stronger, emerging from the wheels to surge past Ewan, who was also edged out of second place by Andrea Guardini.

Results

Abu Dhabi Tour 2018, Madinat Zayed to Madinat Zayed, 189km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 4-48-24

2. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF

3. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott

4. Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors

5. Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac

6. Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

7. Michael Bresciani (Ita) Bardiani CSF

8. Danny van Poppel (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

9. Rudy Barbier (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale

10. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 4-48-14

2. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF, at 4 secs 0:00:04

3. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott, at 6 secs 0:00:06

4. Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo

5. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Bardiani CSF, at same time

6. Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo, at 7 secs

7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team, at 9 secs

8. Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors, at 10 secs

9. Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac

10. Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at same time

For the third consecutive year Alexander Kristoff won the final stage at Tour of Oman on Sunday, in so doing taking his first victory since joining UAE Team Emirates this season.

The Norwegian sprinted to victory on the Matrah Corniche, beating stage one victor Brian Coquard (Vital Concept) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).

For a few moments a bunch sprint appeared in doubt when a breakaway survived until the final lap of the finishing circuit on the Corniche on the outskirts of the capital city, Muscat. Remi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors) had been the last of a five-man group to be taken back with less than five kilometres to ride.

Finishing safely in the bunch, Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) won the general classification.

How it happened

As with the previous stages this week, on the wide dual carriageways bypassing Muscat a breakaway formed soon after kilometre zero. Frenchman Cavagna, Xandro Farazijn (Sport Vlaanderen), Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Groupe Gobert, Pim Ligthart (Roompot-Nederlandse Lotterij) and Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural), all veterans of previous breakaways this week, quickly built a lead of 4.50.

Behind, with a bunch finish likely, and Meurisse 9-29 down, the closest on general classification, the Astana team of race leader Lutsenko left the chase to the sprinter’s teams.

The day’s two classified climbs at 83 and 100km and, on the approach to those and the finishing laps on the Corniche beyond them, the peloton began closing in on the five escapees.

Buy the time the leaders crossed the line for the first of three times,with 22km remaining, the gap was down to 1.15, the bunch toying with the remaining escapees, Cavagna and Ligthart.

In the final kilometres Cavagna went solo, crossing the finish line for the penultimate time with just 30 seconds advantage but with the bunch behind the sprint final became inevitable.

As has been the case in each edition since its introduction in 2010, the overall was won on Green Mountain on Satruday’s queen stage. Lutsenko finishing second there behind team-mate Miguel Angel Lopez, himself taking second on the general classification, winning the young rider’s competition.

Kristoff’s sprint success takes to eight the number of stages the Norwegian has won in Oman, a record for the event.

Top placed British rider was Aqua Blue’s Mark Christian in 35th place, with Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) five places further down.

Former British champion Adam Blythe, who was targeting the stage, was disqualified for taking an irregular bike change late in the 135.5km sage between Al Mouj and Matrah Corniche.

Results

Tour of Oman 2018, stage six: Al Mouj Muscat to  Matrah Corniche, 135.5km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates, in 3-11-29

2. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept Cycling Club

3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

4. Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana

5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin

6. Davide Martinelli (Ita) Quick-Step Floors

7. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

8. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team

9. Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

10. Floris Gerts (Ned) Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij, all at same time

Final general classification

1. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, in 22-49-50 22:49:50

2. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at 11 secs

3. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 28 secs

4. Jesus Herrada (Esp) Cofidis, at 30 secs

5. Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 32 secs

6. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-05

7. Daniel Navarro Garcia (Esp) Cofidis, at 1-14

8. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, at 1-24

9. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data, at 1-29

10. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-37

Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff has bemoaned his number of near-misses at the Tour of Britain, saying that his results epitomise his season

The 30-year-old finished third on the race's final stage into Cardiff on Sunday, the third time he has recorded that result during the week, to go with three further fourth-placed finishes and a fifth.

>>> Edvald Boasson Hagen takes solo victory on Tour of Britain stage eight as Boom wins overall

This season, Kristoff also finished in the top-five five times at the Tour de France, fifth at the Tour of Flanders and fourth at Milan-San Remo.

He has, however, won the European Road Race Championships and another eight races this year, including RideLondon, but the Katusha-Alpecin rider's campaign has largely been a series of what ifs.

"For sure this week has been a bit frustrating as I haven't won," he told Cycling Weekly. "Today I think I had the best sprint. OK, [Maximiliano] Richeze beat me but he got a gap at the corner and I still beat [Elia] Viviani and [Fernando] Gaviria, but still only got third place.

"Day by day I have made some mistakes. I know it is difficult to win, but I was hoping to. All the time I have been top-five, except for the time trial.

"I have good shape, I only just wish that I could change a few of the finishes with a victory.

"It was the same in the Classics. I was fifth in Flanders and fourth in San Remo. I have been up there but not won.

"I wish I could have taken one of the missed opportunities. But at least it shows I am up there every day and sooner or later I will get that win again."

With Marcel Kittel swapping Quick-Step Floors for Katusha-Alpecin next season, Kristoff is making way and joining UAE-Team Emirates.

He believes that new surroundings and new team-mates can help him recapture his form of 2014 and 2015, when he won Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, and was a dominant sprinter in most races.

>>> Favourites for World Championships expecting weather to dictate outcome

"For my motivation, I think the change will be good," he said. "I will be meeting new guys, getting to know new people, and this is going to be exciting.

"I have been at Katusha for six years and they have been six good years. We leave as friends, but it is time for something new as I have been here for most of my career. For me it's a new chapter and we will see how it goes."

Kristoff's next target is his home World Championships in Bergen in two weeks, where he is to be co-leader alongside Edvald Boasson Hagen.

He added: "We are both leaders but I think the course suits Edvald slightly better. I will concentrate on my race, he will concentrate on his, and if we work for each other, we could [win]."

Alexander Kristoff will head to home roads at the Arctic Race of Norway resplendent in a new European champion's jersey which he revealed on Wednesday.

The Norwegian won the race last weekend by out-sprinting Elia Viviani and Moreno Hofland in Denmark, and will now head to the most northerly race in the world cycling calendar in his new jersey, which is understated and stylish with plenty of prominence given to the blue band and yellow stars

This will be the first outing for the European champion's jersey in a road race, after Peter Sagan won the inaugural elite championship in 2016 but was unable to wear the jersey as he was world champion at the same time.

However Kristoff has been preparing for the race in a very different outfit, swapping his lycra for some fisherman's overalls as he and a number of other riders took to the fjords for a pre-race fishing trip.

And of course it was Dylan Teuns who continued his great form from the Tour of Wallonia and the Tour of Poland with this sizeable catch. Watch out for him over the next few days.

Alexander Kristoff looks set to join UAE Team Emirates for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after the team announced that it had reached a deal with the Norwegian sprinter.

>>> Cycling transfers 2018: All the ins and outs from the WorldTour

In an announcement on Facebook, the team said that Kristoff will join the team next year, although a "definitive contract" has not yet been signed due to "routine tests" still needing to be carried out by the team's medical staff.

https://www.facebook.com/UAETEAMEMIRATES/posts/1160625954082424

Kristoff had been widely expected to leave Katusha-Alpecin at the end of the season following a reported falling out with the team after being told that he was overweight and needed to lose a few kilograms.

>>> Hectic RideLondon-Surrey Classic sprint revealed by on-bike footage

The recent RideLondon winner's departure from the Swiss team would seem to open the door for Marcel Kittel to come in as his replacement. The German rider has been strongly linked with such a move, although Quick-Step Floors are said to still be working to try and retain their star sprinter.

Kristoff's move is also likely to disappoint Astana, who had been seen as the most likely destination for the Katusha-Alpecin man.

Despite saying after the RideLondon-Surrey Classic that he didn't feel great on the climbs, race winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) posted the fastest time up Strava's Box Hill segment of any rider in the race on Sunday (July 30).

The Norwegian may have posted the quickest time on Strava of any of the riders taking part in the 2017 race, but he was still short of the best time overall on the 'Box Hill Zig Zag' segment, which is one of the most-ridden segments in the whole of the UK.

JLT-Condor rider Edmund Bradbury managed to post the fastest time on the Box Hill Zig Zag segment a week before the RideLondon event.

Bradbury tackled the 2.5-kilometre ascent in four minutes and 43 seconds to be the fastest out of 81,887 riders. Kristoff posted 4-53, 10 seconds off Bradbury's time.

Bradbury's time is very impressive, but it appears from his Strava file that he targetted the segment by only riding up and down the climb once on July 25. Kristoff, however, rode it as part of a 190km race, which he went on to win in a sprint finish on The Mall.

>>> Alexander Kristoff wins RideLondon-Surrey Classic

Kristoff did manage to take four Strava KOMs on the well-ridden route from London to the Surrey Hills and back. He claimed a long Box Hill segment from Ryka's cafe at the bottom to the Smith & Western restaurant at the top, plus segments in Millbank, Leith Hill and Coldharbour.

Overall, Kristoff completed the race at an average speed of 43.8kmh (27.2mph), with a recorded top speed of 91.8kmh (57mph). His total elevation shows 1646 metres of climbing.

Overall, there were relatively few riders who took KOMs on the RideLondon-Surrey Classic route in 2017 - a route that includes hundreds of Strava segments.

>>> Annemiek Van Vleuten was so fast up the Izoard that only two Tour de France riders could beat her on Strava

German rider Ruben Zepuntke's KOMs for a host of Ranmore Common segments set during the 2016 event, for example, have remained intact.

The route of the RideLondon-Surrey Classic follows the majority of the London 2012 Olympic Games road race route, which is also used for the RideLondon 100 sportive that takes place on the morning of the race. This season, the road race was given the highest WorldTour status by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) won the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic on Sunday from a bunch sprint at the end of a fast-paced edition of the race.

The Norwegian made up for a winless Tour de France by sprinting ahead of his rivals on The Mall to claim the win ahead of Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-Scott), with Tour green jersey winner Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) in third.

The elevation to WorldTour status for 2017 changed the way the race unfolded compared to previous editions. The pace was kept very high through the narrow roads of Surrey, turning it into a war of attrition.

Today, the Prudential #RideLondon-Surrey Classic made history.... pic.twitter.com/xeMKG0Wwxu

— RideLondon WorldTour (@RideLondonWT) July 30, 2017

The initial escape group comprised Iljo Keisse (Quick-Step Floors), Twan Castelijns (LottoNL-Jumbo), Julien Duval (Ag2r), Wesley Kreder (Wanty Groupe Gobert), and Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin).

As the riders started to tackle the Surrey Hills, and particularly Leith Hill and into two tough circuits up and over Ranmore Common, the peloton started to dramatically split apart as riders were dropped.

>>> WorldTour 2017: Latest news and race calendar

Kreder and Duval lost touch with their companions, with Team Sky and UAE Team Emirates largely responsible for driving the pace of the peloton.

As Sky looked to create an even more furious pace, the lead trio were subsequently swept up.

Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors), Daryl Impey (Orica-Scott) and Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) then attacked heading into 60km to go and on the final pass of Ranmore, but Kennaugh soon dropped off the pace to leave two riders in front.

Trentin and Impey continued sharing the lead out front, with a slim gap. On the ascent of Box Hill – the final categorised climb of the day with 45km to go – Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) attacked out of the chase group and bridged to Impey and Trentin.

This new lead trio continued to work well together, but could not make much headway. With the major climbs completed, the peloton started to regroup behind them and the gap was 28 seconds with 30km to go.

Stuyven's Trek-Segafredo team-mates moved to the front of the peloton, disrupting the speed of the chase and allowing the break to eek out more time leading into the final flat run-in to London. Their gap stretched out to around 35 seconds, before being pegged back.

>>> Coryn Rivera sprints to victory at RideLondon Classique

Team Sunweb and Katusha-Alpecin were at the front of the bunch to lead the chase, but a tailwind was assisting the three riders in the lead to set up a nail-biting game of cat-and-mouse.

Impey was unable to hold onto the wheels of Stuyven and Trentin heading into Wimbledon Village and it seemed like the impetus had gone from the break, as the gap reduced to 18 seconds with 12km to go.

Bizarrely, there was just a single Sunweb rider and a single Katusha rider sat in front of Trek and Quick-Step line at the front of the bunch to do the chasing. No-one seemed to want to burn out riders in the pursuit to potentially leave their lead-out trains short to the advantage of their rivals.

Inside 4km, Trentin and Stuyven still had 16 seconds over the peloton but then Orica-Scott and Team Sky started to move their riders up to the front of the bunch and the gap started to tumble and they were caught with 1km to go.

The wide finishing straight up The Mall allowed everyone plenty of room in a drag-race, with Kristoff capitalising on his team's efforts to claim the victory.

Result

Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic, 200km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin, in 4-05-42

2. Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-Scott

3. Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb

4. Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac

5. Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac, at same time

6. Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team, at 1 sec

7. Zak Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy

8. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe

9. Rudy Barbier (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale

10. Oliver Naesen (Bel) Ag2r La Mondiale, at same time

Leader: Ben Hermans (BMC Racing)

Few would have expected Ben Hermans to keep up with climbers illustrious as Fabio Aru (Astana), Rui Costa (UAE Abu Dhabi) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) on the climbs of last week’s Tour of Oman, but the Belgian even went one better than that and got the better of them all to comprehensively win the overall classification, winning both summit finishes.

Hermans has been steadily improving for a couple of years now, especially in hilly races, and this result suggests he could ride for GC at a Grand Tour - or at least provide a valuable service for teammate Richie Porte at the Tour de France.

Team Captain: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

Given that overall victory at the Ruta del Sol was the hundredth win of his career, it’s clear Alejandro Valverde knows a thing or two about bike racing.

The veteran Spaniard used all his experience and know-how to pounce on stage one for victory, pace himself and preserve energy on stage two’s mountain top finish, blitz the following time trial, and finally defended his lead in the lumpy final stage.

Sprinter: Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin)

Opting to ride among a relatively weak field of sprinters at the Tour of Oman, while the likes of Mark Cavendish, André Greipel and Fernando Gaviria faced off at the Volta ao Algarve, might have been the move of a flat track bully, but Alexander Kristoff rarely fails to deliver when he’s the favourite and reliably delivered three bunch sprint victories out of three.

Climber: Thibaut Pinot (FDJ)

It’s not like we haven’t been prematurely carried away by Thibaut Pinot in the past - this time last year he was wowing us all with this new time-trial position, only to flop at the Tour with illness.

But it was hard not to get excited by the way he caught and passed Alberto Contador on the Pena del Aguila at the Ruta del Sol, to score a rare victory over the Spanish climbing legend.

Time trialist: Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo)

Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) might have ridden the 18km course around Sagres five seconds quicker to win stage two of the Volta ao Algarve, but the way Primoz Roglic managed to recover after having climbed toe-to-toe with Dan Martin just the day before meant that his third place - which laid the foundations for overall victory - was the most impressive and significant effort against the clock this week.

Escape artist: Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal)

Well renowned as a serial attacker, Wellens has been well rewarded for his aggressive instincts recently. His victory in a six-man breakaway sprint at the Ruta del Sol - pulled off in typically bold fashion with the Belgian with him launching an early sprint 300m from the line - is already his third triumph of the season.

Domestique: Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors)

Quick-Step Floors blew away on stage two’s summit finish at the Volta ao Algarve, with 22-year old Enric Mas making a name for himself by distancing most of the field, along with Zdenek Stybar, to set up a Dan Martin win.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) claimed a third stage of the 2017 Tour of Oman as Ben Hermans (BMC) safely sealed the overall victory on the final stage.

The Belgian took the lead in the race on stage two after a stage win, and asserted his dominance in the race after winning on Green Mountain on the stage five summit finish. Despite getting caught in a crash on Sunday's sixth stage Muttrah Corniche, Hermans was able to recover and finish the stage with his 22 second advantage over his nearest rival Rui Costa (UAE Abu Dhabi).

The 130.5km stage, which featured a couple of difficult climbs en route to the finish, featured a three-man breakaway of Iljo Keisse (Quick-Step Floors), Aime De Gendt (Sport Vlaanderen) and Benjamin Geraud (Delko Marseille Provence).

They were able to establish a gap of around three minutes in the escape, despite a blustery wind battering the riders throughout the stage.

On the stage's first climb at around 78km gone was when Hermans found himself caught up in the crash, while up front Geraud drifted out of lead group and back to the peloton depsite linking up with a second attempted breakaway that contained the likes of Mark Christian (Aqua Blue Sport).

BMC did much of the work to pull the break back in and as they entered the final 25km circuit the pair out front had around 1-20 advantage.

Keisse then found himself alone as De Gendt slipped away, and Katusha began to wind things up in search of another sprint victory for their leader Kristoff.

The lone Belgian was caught within the final 5km, and that prompted attacks from both Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC). Both were short lived as Katusha continued to hold a high pace, and eventually it was all back together for a bunch sprint.

Kristoff was able to comfortably power ahead of Eduard Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Sacha Modolo (UAE Abu Dhabi) to take his third win and confirm his position as the race's best sprinter.

Results

Tour of Oman 2017 stage six, The Wave - Muttrah Corniche (130.5k):

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin, in 2-57-03

2. Eduard Grosu (Rom) Nippo - Vini Fantini

3. Sacha Modolo (Ita) Team UAE Abu Dhabi

4. Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise

5. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Wilier Triestina

6. Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Sunweb

7. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

8. Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport

9. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data

10. Roy Jans (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect, all same time

Final general classification

1. Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing in 20-56-20

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE-Abu Dhabi at 22 secs

3. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 35 secs

4. Kudus Merhawi (Eri) Dimension-Data) at 58 secs

5. Tsgabu Grymay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida at 1-12

6. Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 1-17

7. Mathias Frank (Sui) AG2R La Mondiale at 1-19

8. Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data at 1-21

9. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida at 1-33

10. Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data at 1-38

Katusha-Alpecin's Alexander Kristoff took his second stage win of the 2017 Tour of Oman as he managed to stay in contention over three tough climbs in the final 45km to out-sprint Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing).

The Norwegian rider had already proved that he was the fastest sprinter in the race with his win on stage one, but today's stage certainly didn't look like one for the fast men on paper.

The climbs close to the finish slimmed down the field significantly, and the final ascent saw an elite group of 15 riders go off the front, including big names such as Fabio Aru (Astana) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale).

That group held a small advantage on the fast descent off the climb, but were caught in the flat final few kilometres, before Kristoff proved the fastest in the reduced bunch sprint.

Overall leader Ben Hermans (BMC Racing) finished safely in the front group to hold on to his red jersey.

Stage four of the Tour of Oman saw the largest break of the race with nine riders going clear: Tanel Kangert (Astana), Axel Domont (Ag2r La Mondiale), Stefan Küng (BMC Racing), Anass Ait El Abdia (UAE Abu Dhabi), Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors), Stefan Denifl (Aqua Blue Sport), Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb), Fabien Doubey (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), and Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare).

Despite the number of riders in the break, they were never able to gain more than two minutes on the peloton on the short 112km, and as the race hit the final three climbs of Bousher Al Amerat in the final 43km, the break was reduced to six as first Jungels, then Teunissen and Eaton dropped off the back.

>>> Watch: Tour of Oman highlights

The remnants of the break were caught on the final climb of the day, and no sooner were they brought back into the fold than an elite 15-man group counter-attacked off the front of the peloton, including overall leader Hermans, as well as Fabio Aru and Romain Bardet.

By the top of the climb the front group had 15 seconds on the chasers, and the final few kilometres saw numerous attacks which disrupted the rhythm of the group as they were caught from behind by the peloton.

>>> Six things to look out for at the Tour of Oman

Alexander Kristoff had already proved that he is the fastest sprinter in the race on stage one, and after managing to stay in the peloton over the tough final climbs, he was not going to let this opportunity slip through is fingers, comfortable winning the final sprint for the line.

Saturday will see the climbers have more of an opportunity to take the race by the scruff of the neck, with a summit finish at Jebel Akhdar before the race finishes with another sprint stage on Sunday.

Results

Tour of Oman 2017, stage four: Yiti (Al Sifah) to Ministry of Tourism (118km)

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin, in 2-50-29

2. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing

4. Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data

5. Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Abu Dhabi

6. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data

7. Benjamin Declercq (Bel Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

8. Oliver Naesen (Bel) Ag2r La Mondiale

9. Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors

10. Marco Canola (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini, all at same time

General classification after stage four

1. Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing, in 13-50-41

2. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Abu Dhabi, at 5 secs

3. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 13 secs

4. Merhawi Kudus (Eri), Dimension Data, at 21 secs

5. David de la Cruz (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 22 secs

6. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 23 secs

7. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, at 24 secs

8. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors, at same time

9. Soren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb, at same time

10. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, at 28 secs

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) won the opening stage of the Tour of Oman 2017 in a sprint finish ahead of Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida).

It's Kristoff's second win of the season after winning a stage at the Etoile de Bessèges in early February and a good indicator of form as he builds towards Milan-San Remo and the Classics season.

It was bad news for Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) in his final season, as he crashed out of contention for the sprint with 700m to go.

The lack of TV coverage for the race made it difficult for fans to engage with the race, but a sprint finish was always expected on the 176.5km stage and Kristoff duly delivered as he sped ahead of his rivals on the right side of the road on the flat final straight.

It was a fast day on the opening day for the riders in the Oman heat, with five men, Larry Warbasse (Aqua Blue Sport), Aimé de Gendt (Topsport Vlaanderen), Christophe Masson (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect) and Giuseppe Fonzi (Wilier Triestina) making it into the breakaway early on.

They established a maximum three minute gap on the peloton, covering almost 50km in the first hour of racing. But it never looked likely they would make it to the finish.

De Gendt and Fonzi dropped with 25km to go with the leaders' advantage down to 1-05, and Kristoff's Katusha team did their best to begin reeling the final three in.

They were then finally caught with 10km to go, and the bunch began to wind up for a sprint finish to the day.

Kristoff was then able to lay a marker for the rest of the race, although the next opportunity for a sprint could come on the week's final stage to Matrah Corniche on Sunday.

Wednesday's stage will see the riders tackle several difficult climbs on the 145.5km stage to Al Bustan.

Provisional Results

Tour of Oman 2017, stage one: Al Sawadi Beach to Naseem Park (176.5km)

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin, 3-46-29

2. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data

3. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

4. Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport

5. Lucas Sebatian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare

6. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina

7. Roy Jans (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect

8. Benjamin Giraud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM

9. Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE-Abu Dhabi

10. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Willier Triestina, all same time

Overall classification after stage one

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin

2. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data

3. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida

4. Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Aqua Blue Sport

5. Lucas Sebatian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare

6. Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Wilier Triestina

7. Roy Jans (Bel) WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect

8. Benjamin Giraud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM

9. Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE-Abu Dhabi

10. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Willier Triestina

The first stage of the Tour des Fjords descended into shambles on Wednesday, when a wrong turn by a motorbike sent several riders the wrong way and later they had to deal with traffic on the route.

Having passed through a tunnel at the 129km mark of the 146km race, a race motorbike proceeded straight forward, before stopping having realised his mistake. The majority of the peloton stopped and turned round with the moto, but three riders, including stage winner Leigh Howard (IAM Cycling) carried on.

According to Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) the three riders "took a short cut to the right and immediately had 30 seconds on us."

“To be honest, I expected the commissaire to neutralise the race,” said Howard. “But he didn’t, and you don’t stop just to stop. We had an advantage and we took it, but it’s strange.”

He added: “It is understandable there would be some angry riders. I’m happy, but it takes away some of the feeling as it’s not the same to win like that.”

Kristoff explained the situation: "I won the intermediate sprint and there was no breakaway in front of us. We came to a tunnel and the motorbike in front of us went straight, then he stopped because he had gone the wrong way.

“We turned around and I thought there would be a re-start, because we had been taken the wrong way through the tunnel and we were all together so it would be easy to do. But some went through the tunnel and took a short cut to the right and immediately had 30-seconds on us.

"To me this is a disappointing situation. I cannot believe we did not re-start all together, because that’s how we were when the mistake was made. There were no signs, no cars, noone showing us which way to go.”

Race director Roy Hegreberg admitted that 200 people had been promised to the race to control traffic, but only 175 people were provided, leading to the cars on the route inside the final three kilometres.

Bergen is set to host the 2017 World Championships, but these incidents will do little to instil confidence in the organisation.

Giant-Alpecin's John Degenkolb's return to his pre-eminence continued on Thursday as he claimed his first top-three finish in 2016 by finishing second on stage one of the Arctic Tour of Norway, behind winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).

Degenkolb was one of six Giant-Alpecin riders injured in a January training crash near Calpe, Spain and didn't begin his season until May.

The 2015 Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix winner completed the Tour de France, placing fourth on two stages, and on the opening stage of the Arctic Tour he sprinted to second; Sky's Danny van Poppel, winner of two stages in last week's Vuelta a Burgos, was third.

The last time Degenkolb featured in the top three of a race was when he won the final stage of last year's Vuelta a España. 

While the result is another positive step in Degenkolb's long return to form, it is also a boost for Kristoff who failed to win a stage at the Tour and whose last victory was in May's Amgen Tour of California.

It was the fourth stage that Kristoff has taken in the race that is now in its fourth edition, having won a stage last year and two in 2014.

The Arctic Tour of Norway, in its fourth edition, finishes on Sunday with stages tailored towards a sprint on stage two and four. Sky's Ben Swift and Andy Fenn are Britain's best chances of a stage win, although One Pro Cycling could pull off a surprise win with either Kristian House or Chris Opie.

When it comes to the Tour de France, safety in numbers is certainly the key motto.

If you’re at the front of the race you fight to have as many teammates around you as possible to keep you safe from your rivals.

But even at the back end of the field there is solace to be taken by surrounding yourself with your fellow riders, and as the race hits the mountains for the first time the sprinters are accepting their fate as the perennial hangers-on.

Mark Cavendish has prospered in the first week when the routes have been flat, but now the roads are starting to point upwards and the stage profiles begin to look like sharks’ teeth the game turns to surviving at the back of the race.

The sharks are constantly nipping at the back wheels of the strugglers in the mountains, with the sprinters usually the first to be cast adrift.

But the gruppetto, as the final group on the road is known, won’t let themselves simply drift off into the abyss, instead they fight for survival against the time limit imposed by the race jury.

“Mentally it’s a lot more relaxed than sprint stages, but of course physically it’s going to be super hard. The next two days it’s going to be hard to stay within the time limit,” said Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) of stages eight and nine.

“[You have to] hang on as long as possible and try to have a big group. At the end it all comes down to all of us who are in trouble on the climbs. If we stay together we have a much better chance. Everyone should be fair to each other and honest with each other.”

>>> Giro d’Italia gruppetto ‘racing full gas from the start to make the time cut’

With five Tour de France starts to his name, Greipel knows exactly what to expect from the mountain stages. There is light at the end of the tunnel after all, with stage 11 to Montpellier offering another opportunity for the fast men.

Getting there won’t be an easy task for Irish sprinter Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18), who has fought to survive in recent days after a stage one crash left him requiring stitches on a finger on his right hand.

Bennett believes he can hang with the gruppetto on the long climbs, but in his current state he isn’t able to get the explosiveness on the short climbs to stay with the group.

“You’ve just got to stay within your limits; not go too hard on one stage because you’re going to pay for it on another one,” he said.

“Last year I had no condition, but I could go into the red. This year I have condition but I can’t go into the red, so it’s a bit different.”

A look ahead to the Pyrenean stages of the Tour de France

Today’s breed of sprinter also isn’t like the sprinters of yesteryear, who abandoned when the race hit its first real climb. Riders like Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) shun the notion of being useless when the road points upwards.

“We have many guys in my position and I even climb better than them,” Kristoff said.

“I’m not always on the limit in the last group, I can even hang with the [main] group a bit longer if I really want. I try to save energy and go with the latest group that I feel safe in.”

He added: “The new guys should just hang around with the big sprinters, because they know what they are doing. They’ve done it many times so they know how much time there is to lose.”

The 2016 Tour de France has got through seven stages without losing a rider – the first time that has happened in history – but surely that record will be tested in the next mountain stages.

Professional cycling is a serious business, but that's not to say the riders take it seriously all of the time.

We seen in our Tweets of the Week franchise that when off the bike the riders don't take themselves seriously, so Cycling Weekly set out to find out who is the funniest rider in the peloton.

There were mixed results from the riders we asked, with votes for Gregory Rast (Trek-Segafredo), Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal) and Annette Edmondson (Wiggle-High5).

Mark Cavendish got the shout from Katusha sprinter Alexander Kristoff for his wit on Twitter, while Kristoff himself was nominated by teammate Sven Erik Bystrom.

Michele Scarponi (Astana) was the pick of Jacopo Guarnieri, although some of his jokes may get lost in translation with the English speakers, given that Scarponi only speaks in Italian or Spanish in the peloton.

Scarponi has received a cult following in recent months for going on training rides with a parrot, named Frankie, on his shoulder. What a joker.

Hazardous natural obstacles, a stellar field containing several potential winners, every chance of a major upset and plenty of opportunities for a high-odds winner: no, it's not the Gold Cup, it's Milan-San Remo.

Having finished a close second to John Degenkolb in last year's edition of Milan-San Remo, 2014 winner Alexander Kristoff is the bookies' favourite to reclaim his title on Saturday at a best price of 9/2 with Betfred.

The Norwegian sprinter has finished in the top ten in the last three editions of the fabled one-day race and will be confident of a second victory, with Degenkolb absent as he recovers from injuries sustained in a training crash.

>>> Milan-San Remo 2016 start list

Two other riders have also managed to finish in the top ten in the last three editions and they are, unsurprisingly, Classics legend Fabian Cancellara and current world champion Peter Sagan.

Having won a record third Strade Bianche title and riding his last-ever Milan San-Remo, 2008 winner Cancellara is fantastic value at 12/1 with Bet Victor, especially considering he has contested the sprint every year since 2010, his results in that time reading (in reverse chronological order): 7th, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 17th.

This year's edition clocks in at a punishing 291km and there are question marks over whether rainbow jersey Sagan has the staying power to win a race over such a long distance.

He will, however, be fired up by his recent near-misses, which saw him finish in the top ten on all six stages of Tirreno-Adriatico following fourth at Strade Bianche, seventh at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

>>> Milan-San Remo: how the last 15 editions have been won

Sagan has been remarkably consistent this season, despite not picking up a win, and odds of 6/1 at William Hill and Paddy Power are certainly worth looking at.

Watch our essential guide

Two riders taking good form into Saturday's race are Michael Matthews, who won the prologue and stage two en route to the points jersey at Paris-Nice, and Greg van Avermaet, who last week added the overall win at Tirreno-Adriatico to his equally impressive Omloop Het Nieuwsblad victory at the end of February.

Matthews finished third over the 293km course last year to prove he has the legs to hang with the best of them over tough terrain and is 8/1 with Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Bet Victor to become the third Australian to win Milan-San Remo.

Van Avermaet - at a whopping 18/1 with Paddy Power - is also surely worth at least an each-way bet on his current form.

>>> Eight riders to watch at Milan-San Remo

Looking further afield, Alejandro Valverde is very tempting at 66/1 with Betfair, while Niccolo Bonifazio - fifth in this race last year and sixth at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in February - might be worth a punt at 80/1 with William Hill.

In terms of British riders, last year's 13th-placed Ben Swift looks set to lead Team Sky, having made the podium in 2014, and looks good value at 50/1 with Bet Victor.

Paris-Nice winner Geraint Thomas is also tempting at 100/1 with Betfred, Paddy Power and Ladbrokes, although this race may come too soon after his efforts in France last week for Thomas to feature much beyond helping teammate Swift.

Ian Stannard - 200/1 with Bet365 and Paddy Power - also looks worth a punt, while Steve Cummings, riding high off the back of a solo win at Tirreno-Adriatico, catches the eye at 400/1 with Bet365 and William Hill.

Peter Sagan

Peter Sagan is one of the favourites for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and he's got every chance of winning the double at the weekend. He's strong enough to get over the climbs without any hassle, and as Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (KBK) virtually always comes down to a sprint he's more than fast enough to win at the end.

It could be a big weekend for the world champion.

Elia Viviani

Elia Viviani is very adept over cobbles for a sprinter, playing a key part of Team Sky's squads at Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders so he's a good bet for the win at KBK on Sunday.

The Italian finished third to Mark Cavendish and Alexander Kristoff in 2015 and will be among the favourites heading into the race this year.

Alexander Kristoff

Who can bet against Kristoff with the form he's in this season? He's won 50 per cent of the races he's entered so far this season and has ominously started just as strongly as he did in his incredible 2015 season.

He's a Tour of Flanders winner, so will have no problems on the hills and his sprints this season have shown he's pretty unbeatable if he's allowed to get ahead in the final straight.

Your essential guide to the cobbled Classics

Caleb Ewan

We all know what Caleb Ewan can do, what with his performances in the Vuelta a España last year and Tour Down Under this year, but this will be his first real test of a European Classic.

It might be too much to expect a victory from the young Australian, but it'll be interesting to see what will happen if he's in contention in the final few kilometres.

Arnaud Démare

Like Viviani, Arnaud Démare is pretty handy over the cobbles, placing well at Het Nieuwsblad, Ghent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders last year.

He placed fourth at KBK on debut as a 21-year-old in 2012 but always seems to go missing when surrounded by more experienced sprinters. A win on Sunday could give him the confidence to put in a strong season.

Soren Kragh Andersen

Virtually unknown before this season, young Dane Soren Kragh Andersen has shown off his sprint capabilities at the Tours of Qatar and Oman, claiming a few top-10s and third behind Kristoff in the final Oman stage.

At just 21 he may not have the experience to mix with the big names on show but he also does a decent time trial, so if he can make a late attack it wouldn't be surprising to see him hold off the pack.

Chris Opie

One Pro Cycling gained an invitation to KBK and it will allow sprinter Chris Opie another chance to show what he and the team can do.

The British Pro Continental team raced the Dubai Tour earlier in the month where Opie sealed top 10 finishes on the first two stages. It would be a stretch to say that Opie might win KBK on Sunday, but a good performance from the 28-year-old would do One Pro's cause the world of good.

When Alexander Kristoff sprinted to stage six victory at the Tour of Oman yesterday it was to notch up his fifth win of the season. This statistic is even more impressive when one considers yesterday was just his 11th race day of 2016. A strike rate nearing 50 per cent is impressive in any sport.

The Norwegian has begun 2016 in much the same manner he did last year, when he seemed unstoppable, especially in the spring. Last year he had 15 victories by the end of May, including the Tour of Flanders and the General Classification at the Three Days of De Panne, where he won three of the four stages.

The Spring Classics season has brought 28-year-old Kristoff incredible success in the last two years and, with the four stages he has won in the Middle Eastern races this month he could be heading for more of the same.

>>> There’s something quite familiar about Alexander Kristoff’s winning pattern this year

“I have five victories already, so that gives me confidence,” he said. “Last year I was really good this part of the season and this year I have started the same. But the Classics are a bit different. They are harder and longer, but many of the same guys are there, so if I can beat them here I can beat them here,” he explained with no hint of arrogance.

His first race this year did not go as planned, however: “I was a little bit worried about my sprint shape at the first stage,” he said of his defeat to Mark Cavendish in the first stage at the Tour of Qatar. “I was really slow but I improved after the second [stage], so I think it was that I did not have speed in my legs for the first race of the season.”

There is still work to do if he is to realise his major ambitions for this spring, defence of his Tour of Flanders crown and Milan-San Remo, which he won in 2014. He was comprehensively dropped on the climbs which comprised the final 40 kilometres of Saturday’s stage five to the Omani Ministry of Tourism, and it is climbing where he will concentrate his training over the next few weeks.

However, other than Cavendish, who has been preparing for the track, none of the world’s top sprinters were present in either Qatar or Oman, so how does Kristoff think he will fare against the cream of the sprinting crop later in the year?

“In the really flat sprints, Kittel is seriously focussed and it would be difficult to pass him,” Kristoff admits. “You see how he sprints and nobody was really close, so it’ll be exciting to see how I am against him. I am expecting to lose if it’s an easy race, but in the harder stages I think I can drop him.”

Watch: My toughest day - Alexander Kristoff

The success of the last two years has caused Kristoff to raise his sights significantly, and while he is happy with his form, this is no time to rest on his laurels.

“This race [Tour of Oman] is not a small race, it is Hors Category, so it is good to win here. But a few years ago if I did nothing for the rest of the year I would have been happy, but now, after these two years I want a little bit more in the big races.”

Considering his talents, Kristoff is a humble, unassuming man, though it is clear he is hugely ambitious. That desire, coupled with the from he has shown to date, indicate we could be seeing an awful lot of Alexander Kristoff over the next few months.

Alexander Kristoff’s dominance in the sprints at both Middle East in the last two weeks made him the favourite to win today’s final stage at the Tour of Oman and he duly delivered. Despite being out of position the Katusha rider’s won the bunch sprint with some ease, taking his second win of the race and his fifth in two weeks.

Also predictably, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) wrapped up the general classification, his performance on the stage three climb of Green Mountain the difference between him and Romain Bardet in second place, just 15 seconds back on the general classification.

The final stage of the Tour of Oman, a 130.5km route between The Wave, Muscat, and Matrah Corniche, was no processional ride through the city streets designed for a certain spent finish.

Prior to racing the finishing circuit, the peloton tackled the two climbs which had so effectively shredded the peloton on stage one, when Luxemburger Bob Jungels (Etixx-Quickstep) claimed the first red jersey of the week.

>>> Tour of Oman 2016: Latest news, reports and info

However, with a descent and three laps of a 7.5km circuit along the corniche to conclude the race, the peloton was always likely to reform.

After an extremely aggressive start, where an number of groups tried and failed to get away, after 18km of aggressive racing a group of six riders finally made it clear of the peloton: Sébastien Minard (Ag2r), Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Argon 18), Gianni Meersman (Etixx-QuickStep), Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen), Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare), Jaroslaw Marycz (CCC Sprandi Polkowice).

They were eventually joined by Jesper Asselman (Roompot), a regular in breaks throughout this and the race in Qatar, and constructed a lead of two minutes 30 seconds.

With a long descent followed by three laps of a 7.5km circuit along the corniche, the climbs were raced differently to Stage one and the peloton stayed together.

The break was eventually caught on the final lap, after which BMC attacked on a small climb, succeeding in troubling Kristoff.

“We were a little bit behind,” the Norwegian explained. “But Marco [Haller] brought us from 2k all the way to 500 metres to the front and Jacopo [Guarnieri] brought me to 200 metres. When you are delivered with this speed in this position it’s not too difficult to win.”

“This race is race is not a small one, it is a Hors category race, so it is always good to win here.”

Nibali had been the pre race favourite and his general classification victory puts him on course in his preparation for a second Giro d’Italia victory this May. “My goal was to do a good race,” he told us. “I am happy, because in other years I was not ready until later in the season, but now I want to win earlier.”

Britain's Mark McNally (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) finished the race in 95th place overall, 32-04 adrift of Nibali.

Results

Tour of Oman 2016, stage six: The Wave Muscat to Matrah Corniche, 130.5km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha

2. Zico Waeytens (Bel) Giant-Alpecin

3. Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Giant-Alpecin

4. Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo

5. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18

6. Roy Jans (Bel) Wanty-Groupe-Gobert

7. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen

8. Marko Kump (Slo) Lampre-Merida

9. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

10. Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare all same time

Final general classification

1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana

2. Romain Bardet (Fra) FDJ at 15 secs

3. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana at 24 secs

4. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin at 40 secs

5. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida at 54 secs

6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data at 1-06

7. Brendan Canty (Aus) Drapac Pro Cycling at 1-31

8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r La Mondiale at 1-38

9. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data at 1-56

10. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx-QuickStep at 1-59

Remember last year, when Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) seemed to win every race he entered? Well, it's happening again in 2016.

Quite remarkably, in a stat pointed out by the kings of stats at Pro Cycling Stats, Kristoff has won the exact same stages at the same races as he did in 2015.

This year, like last year, the Norwegian took victory on stages two, four and five at the Tour of Qatar and then raised his arms in celebration again on stage three of the Tour of Oman.

If this continues, and there's no reason why it cant, you'd be well advised to place bets on him winning the Tour of Flanders and Scheldeprijs again.

The more niche bet would be to back him on stage one of Paris-Nice, which will be his next win, mark my words.

Last year Kristoff put together one of the best seasons in recent history, winning stage races, one day races and a Monument, so it's a little spooky to see him starting to do the exact same things again.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) powered to win the bunch sprint at the end of stage three of the 2016 Tour of Oman on Thursday.

Widely tipped as the favourite to take the victory on the stage, 2015 Tour of Flanders winner Kristoff lived up to expectation by taking the stage ahead of Moreno Hofland (LottoNL-Jumbo), and Roy Jans (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) in third.

It's Kristoff's fourth victory of the season so far, after he won three stages of the Tour of Qatar.

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) finished safely in 10th place to retain the overall race lead.

The remnants of the day's five-rider escape group were caught within the last 10 kilometres after Dimension Data and Katusha drove the chase to set up a bunch-sprint finish.

>>> Tour of Oman 2016: Latest news, reports and info

Unusually for the Tour of Oman, the stage was punctuated by several heavy rainstorms, causing the riders to cross the line in a state more akin to early-season races in Europe than the Middle East.

The 2016 Tour of Oman continues on Friday with the 'queen stage' to Green Mountain, the usually decisive climb that shakes up the general classification. The race concludes on Sunday, February 21.

Results

Tour of Oman 2016, stage three

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha

2. Moreno Hofland (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

3. Roy Jans (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert

4. Mike Teunissen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

5. Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing

6. Zico Waeytens (Bel) Giant-Alpecin

7. Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot-Oranje Peloton

8. Robin Stenuit (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert

9. Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing

10. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data all same time

General classification after stage three

1. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana at 4 secs

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing at 6 secs

4. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale at 6 secs

5. Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data at 8 secs

6. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida at 10 secs

7. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana at 10 secs

8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r La Mondiale at 10 secs

9. Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice at 10 secs

10. Patrick Conrad (Aut) Bora-Argon 18 at 16 secs

The second stage of the 2016 Tour Qatar ended in the predicted sprint finish with Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) narrowly beating Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) to the line. The two were part of a small group who remained after a crash took out a number of riders around 300 metres out.

The stage was held as a second test event for this year’s Doha World Championships and took in  four laps of the 15.3 km circuit, before heading away for a finish at Qatar University. Before that circuit, though, the peloton headed north, passing the Losail motor racing circuit then turning back to Doha.

A break of four riders was quickly able to build a lead of two minutes, though behind them, the peloton had split under the pressure of the ubiquitous cross winds.

By the time the first intermediate sprint was reached at 39km, the four escapees and been brought back by a strong group, including Kristoff who won the bonus seconds.

>>> Watch: Crash at end of Tour of Qatar stage two takes out chunk of peloton

With Gold jersey wearer Cavendish in the second group, some 40 seconds down, it was down to his Dimension Data team to bring the leaders back, which they did as the race entered the Worlds circuit.

The peloton remained bunched from then on, though two riders, Belgian champion Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Smukulis (Astana) were allowed to build a lead which was never allowed to exceed 40 seconds. Van Hecke won the final intermediate sprint, on what will be the World championship finish line, before he and Smukulis were caught, setting up a bunch sprint.

On the final straight, a one kilometre uphill hill drag, Katusha and Dimension Data battled to establish their lead out trains. While the crash took out some of those further back, it  did not prevent the leaders launching their sprint, which the Norwegian won by millimetres.

Results

Tour of Qatar 2016, stage two: Qatar University to Qatar University, 135km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha

2. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data

3. Roy Jans (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert

4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data

6. Andrea Palini (Ita) Skydive Dubai

7. Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida

8. Tomasz Kiendys (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice

9. Andre Looij (Ned) Roompot Oranje Peloton

10. Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha all same time

General classification after stage two

1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data

2. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha at 5 secs

3. Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida at 14 secs

4. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana at 17 secs

5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data at 18 secs

6. Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha at 18 secs

7. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing at 20 secs

8. Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Fortuneo-Vital Concept at 21 secs

9. Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) Katusha at 21 secs

10. Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing at 21 secs

Alexander Kristoff says he knows what to expect of Mark Cavendish next year at his new team Dimension Data, as the Manxman is using the same lead-out riders from his days at HTC.

The Katusha rider told Cycling Weekly at the team’s training camp in Calpe, that as Cavendish has reunited with his old team-mates Mark Renshaw and Bernie Eisel at Dimension Data for 2016, he knows what their strengths are.

Kristoff is more excited, however, to see what Marcel Kittel will do as his lead-out since he joined Cavendish’s old squad Etixx-Quick Step, will be completely new.

“It will be exciting with Kittel because he has new team-mates. Cav he has more or less the same team-mates as before so he will not be that exciting,” said the 28-year old, who won two Tour de France stages in 2014 and has two Monuments to his name in Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders.

Watch: Tour de France 2016 essential guide

“We know what they [Cavendish and his team-mates] can do, what their strengths are and not, but we shall see.”

Cavendish rode with Renshaw and Eisel at HTC-Highroad from 2009 to 2011, becoming one of the most formidable sprint trains in the peloton. Eisel joined Cavendish at Sky in 2012, while Renshaw rode with Cavendish at Etixx since 2014.

“For sure they are good, in HTC [Highroad] they were winning a lot, but now they are older maybe, hopefully a little slower,” said Kristoff. “You don’t get stronger when you get older; you maybe get smarter, but less powerful.

“I don’t think necessarily they are better than the HTC days, but they are still the same guys and they know what to do.”

However, Kristoff doesn’t know how Marcel Kittel, who spent most of last year out with illness, will fare with his new-look lead-out.

“He has a strong group so it will be nice, or maybe scary, to see, if they are working really good together.”

Often when such riders win you simply think 'good for them' and think they deserve the win for their hard work. But sometimes a rider performs well beyond expectations on unfamiliar terrain or against formidable opponents.

A sprinter wins on a climb or a climber wins on a sprint or sometimes it's just a rider that makes you say "who??". Here are 11 of the most surprising winners this year.

Fernando Gaviria - Tour de San Luis stage one

Although not a complete unknown in January, thanks to his prowess on the track and exploits at the 2014 Tour de l'Avenir, Fernando Gaviria's two stage wins in the first race of the season were pretty special.

Riding for the Colombia national team, Gaviria beat a couple of decent sprinters in San Luis, including Mark Cavendish, who didn't look best pleased with losing to a 20-year-old.

The best thing was that he beat Cav again two days later and rumours started of him replacing the Manxman at Etixx-Quick Step in 2016 - rumours that have since turned out to be true.

The wins seemed to mark the changing of the guard and Gaviria will likely return to the race with his new team in 2016 where nobody will be shocked if he wins.

John Degenkolb - Tour of Dubai stage three

John Degenkolb winning a stage in a race is not surprising in the slightest. The surprise about his stage three win at the Tour of Dubai was just what he accomplished on the parcours he faced.

The route profile for the stage from Dubai to Hatta didn't look particularly bad - a lot of flat with a few lumps and a slight hill to finish. But in reality the climb to the finish line was like a wall.

At 400m above sea level, Hatta is pretty much as high as you can get when you're near Dubai and there's none of these winding roads to the summit - just an incredibly sharp climb maxing out at 17 per cent.

Degenkolb was not fazed, though, beating world-class climbers like Alejandro Valverde and Philippe Gilbert up the ascent. The German got his full nodding dog impression in on the climb and collapsed to the floor, panting, as he celebrated.

Rafael Valls - Tour of Oman general classification

A number of Grand Tour hopefuls turned up to the Tour of Oman in search of a bit of early season form and possibly a cheap victory in their first race, but Lampre-Merida’s Rafael Valls had other ideas.

The climb up the Green Mountain offers many of the riders their first taste of mountains in the season and with Chris Froome winning the past two editions, the big guns usually perform well.

But Valls upset everyone by winning on Green Mountain by two seconds over Tejay Van Garderen and Valverde and set himself up for a decent season of stage racing.

He built on the win by finishing in the top 10 overall at Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya, and finished 11th in the Criterium du Dauphiné. Not a bad year.

Ian Stannard - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

As reigning champion, everyone knew just what Ian Stannard was capable of in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but having returned from a broken back few knew what kind of form he'd be in.

Turns out pretty decent form, but good form isn't enough to win in the situation that Stannard found himself in.

The Team Sky man was surrounded by Etixx-Quick Step riders in the final kilometres as Classics heavyweights Niki Terpstra, Tom Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh tried to ride Yogi off their wheels.

In the end, though, Stannard's tactics, strength and sheer desire to win saw him upset the odds and lead Terpstra and Boonen home; the group of four were 1-24 ahead of their nearest riders.

Jelle Wallays - Dwars Door Vlaanderen

It's not often that a Pro Continental-level rider goes head-to-head with a world champion and comes out on top, but that's just what Jelle Wallays did in Dwars Door Vlaanderen.

The Topsport Vlaanderen rider and his teammate Edward Theuns claimed an improbable 1-2 in the race ahead of Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick Step).

What was more impressive was that Wallays was part of the day's breakaway and was attacking alone when he was caught by Theuns, van Baarle and Kwiatkowski and he rode with them for the last 50km.

But with 1000m to go, Wallays launched another attack and van Baarle and Kwiatkowski couldn't work together to catch either Wallays or Theuns, who took advantage of the confusion to take second.

Wallays earned himself a move to Lotto-Soudal for 2016, while Theuns is set to join Trek Factory Racing.

Luca Paolini - Ghent-Wevelgem

The wily old veteran may have been busted for taking cocaine at the Tour de France, but his ride at Ghent-Wevelgem will still go down as one of the best of the year.

The conditions were horrendous, to put it lightly. Riders were thrown from the road and fewer than 40 finished the challenging course. But Paolini was not to be derailed, attacking in the final 10km from a group that contained Geraint Thomas - winner of E3 Harelbeke two days earlier - and Niki Terpstra.

His move was textbook and the fact that nobody expected him to win made it even more surprising to see him solo away and take the win by 11 seconds.

Alexander Kristoff - Three Days of De Panne general classification

Sprinters don't win stage races, on the whole - especially those that include time trials and time trials that are won by Sir Bradley Wiggins.

But Alexander Kristoff put in the time trial of his life over the 14km course to finish just 18 seconds down on Wiggo - enough to give him the overall win by a full 23 seconds over Stijn Devolder.

The overall win just added to Kristoff's remarkable start to the season, that saw him win stages in Qatar, Oman and Paris-Nice, claim second in Milan-San Remo and top 10s at E3 and Ghent-Wevelgem.

He built on his De Panne win by winning both Scheldeprijs and the Tour of Flanders and cleaning up most of the stages at the Tour of Norway and the Tour des Fjords.

An all-round fantastic year.

Peter Sagan - Tour of California general classification

Peter Sagan had won 11 stages at the Amgen Tour of California before the race this May. He won two more this year but the second was not your run of the mill sprint like he usually takes Stateside.

Sagan smashed the 10km time trial around Big Bear Lake, putting 15 seconds into strong tester Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) and taking the overall lead.

It wasn't a surprise that Sagan gave up the yellow jersey the next day on the climb up to Mount Baldy, but he did surprise quite a number of people by battling to sixth place on the stage, putting him just two seconds behind leader Julian Alaphilippe.

Needing a podium finish in the final-stage sprint to gain enough bonus seconds to steal the win, Sagan didn't disappoint - finishing third behind Cavendish and Wouter Wippert to take the overall title.

Ilnur Zakarin - Tour de Romandie general classification

Ilnur Zakarin's most notable achievement before 2015 - apart from his doping ban - was winning the overall title at the Tour of Azerbaijan last year.

This year he did a little bit better in the Katusha colours, denying Froome his third consecutive win at the Tour de Romandie.

Zakarin had the unenviable task of trying to hold off Froome in the final time trial, having taken the lead by six seconds from Thibaut Pinot and 14 seconds from Froome on the penultimate stage.

Froome disappointed against the clock on the final stage as Zakarin placed third behind Tony Martin and Simon Spilak and put more time into Froome and his chasers.

He went on to win a stage at the Giro d'Italia. A breakout season if ever we saw one.

Steve Cummings - Tour de France stage 14

Again, Steve Cummings winning something isn't in itself particularly surprising, but the circumstances of his win in Mende at the Tour de France was pretty special.

Out in the breakaway all day, few expected him to triumph in such strong company. The strongest of that company attacked on the climb up to the Mende airfield in the Massif Central - Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) had the hopes of the French nation on their shoulders.

But Cumming stormed past them both as the road flattened out and the riders made their way to the landing strip and sprinted to the line to take the win for MTN-Qhubeka on Mandela Day.

Vasil Kiriyienka - UCI World Championships time trial

Team Sky's Vasil Kiryienka is a very good time triallist, but few would have predicted that he'd become the world's best.

The Belarussian held off the likes of Tony Martin and Tom Dumoulin to win against the clock in Richmond in September, becoming the second Sky rider in as many years to take home the rainbow stripes.

He showed what he was capable of at the Giro d'Italia, where he won a time trial of a similar distance but the field there was significantly weaker.

You'd have got fantastic odds on the Worlds podium comprising of Kiryienka, Adriano Malori and Jerome Coppel, and those three surprised everyone.

Katusha's Alexander Kristoff outsprinted double stage winner Peter Sagan to claim the seventh stage of the Tour de Suisse in Düdingen.

The Norwegian opened his sprint early on the finishing straight, which ramped up slightly towards the end - a move which Sagan could not quite counter.

It marks Kristoff's 17th win of an impressive season, meaning he denied Sagan a record-breaking 12th Tour de Suisse stage.

The day's breakaway saw the presence of the rainbow jersey of Michal Kwiatkowski, joined by Orica-GreenEdge's Daryl Impey and BMC's Silvan Dillier.

The trio stayed away until the final two kilometres when Impey and Dillier cut their losses, but Kwiatkowski dug deep to hold off the charging peloton for another few hundred metres.

Sagan's Tinkoff-Saxo team led the bunch around the final corner into the finishing straight, but it was Kristoff who had the better positioning.

The Katusha rider sprung past Sagan's leadout man and towards the line, with the Slovakian unable to bridge the gap in the final metres.

Tour de Suisse 2015 stage seven: Biel/Bienne - Dudingen (164.4km)

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, 3-38-07

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, st

3. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st

4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC, st

5. Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ, st

6. Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, st

7. Sep Vanmarcke (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, st

8. Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge, st

9. Marco Marcato (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, st

10. JJ Rojas (Esp) Movistar, st

Other:

14. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 2 seconds

Overall classification after stage seven

1. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, 17-42-07

2. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 37s

3. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, at 50 seconds

4. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha, st

5. Miguel Angel Lopez (Esp) Astana, at 1-07

6. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 1-22

7. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, at 1-27

8. Steve Morabito (Swi) FDJ, at 2-29

9. Sebastian Reichenback (Swi) IAM Cycling, at 2-43

10. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, at 2-46

Tour de France 2015 route preview

Having taken five weeks away from bike racing, Alexander Kristoff proved he's not forgotten what he's doing, taking the opening stage in his home tour.

Katusha's Kristoff sprinted into the leader's jersey at the Tour of Norway by pipping Caleb Ewan and Edvald Boasson Hagen to the line in Sarpsborg in a slightly uphill finish.

The Norwegian purple patch of form in the Spring Classics, winning the Tour of Flanders and Scheldeprijs, while claiming top-10 finishes at Milan-San Remo, E3 Harelbeke, Ghent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix.

"It’s great to win at home and that’s what I’m here to do, so I’m very happy to win the first stage," he said. "It was a very strong break and I had to put all of my guys on the front to pull and we were barely able to catch them – it was a close one.

"But even after taking a rest I knew after a good training period that I could still win. I felt a little bit heavy today and I started a bit too far back in the sprint so I wasn’t too sure how it would go and was somewhat nervous."

Having played the supporting role to Adam Blythe at the Tour of Turkey, Ewan was given free reign to target the sprint but couldn't overcome Kristoff at the finish.

Team Sky's Andrew Fenn managed fourth place behind Boasson Hagen, with Tour de Yorkshire winner Lars Petter Nordhaug also in the top-10.

Alexander Kristoff has ended speculation about his future by extending his contract at Russian team Katusha at least until the end of the 2016 season.

Kristoff's coach Stein Orn recently sparked rumours that the Tour of Flanders winner could leave Katusha, possibly for Team Sky, but the Norwegian sprinter is happy to stay put.

"It is unbelievable how the team was going the last months," Kristoff said. "They all worked so hard for me. The teammates trust me and I trust them.

"For the first time I could work from a sprinter’s train. Our newly arrived riders all proved to be the right choices.

"I had a contract till the end of this year but my hope was to be able to stay with this winning team. It didn’t take us so long to reach a new agreement. I am very happy"

Kristoff has been on imperious form so far in 2015, with ten wins to his name and top-10 finishes in Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix.

Katusha has not released any further details of Kristoff's new contract but promised more riders would be signed in the coming weeks.

Alexander Kristoff’s and Luca Paolini’s recent Belgian winning streak has been on a new U-profiled front rim supplied by Mavic.

The new front wheel has been spotted being used by the Mavic-sponsored Katusha and Cannondale pro teams in a number of recent races. Unlike previous V-shaped Cosmic Carbone Ultimate wheels this new wheel has a U-shaped section, suggesting that Mavic has warmed to the aero benefits of this profile.

Deeper section carbon rims are de rigueur for racing and increasingly being specced by bike manufacturers on their higher-end bikes. Stability in gusty conditions and side winds were an issue with their earlier incarnations, which used a V-shaped section, with the rim narrowing to a point at the spoke holes.

>>> For a complete guide to road bike wheels, click here

Zipp has for years been the flagbearer for innovation in deep section carbon wheel design, with their patented wheel section becoming increasingly bulbous and blunt-nosed with successive incarnations, as the company also increased the width of the tyre bed to increase tyre stability and create a more aerodynamic tyre-rim interface.

Zipp claims that U-sections improve aerodynamics and stability, particularly when the wind is not coming from straight ahead of the rider.

>>> Zipp 404 Firestrike wheel review

Other wheel manufacturers have increasingly followed suit, with new producers such as Swisside adopting bulbous, U-shaped sections.

Mavic and Campagnolo have remained notable hold-outs against U-shaped rims, retaining their older V-profiles along with narrower wheel beds. Now Mavic seems to be following suit and rounding the sections of its newer wheels.

Details about the new front wheel and Mavic’s take on U-sections remain scarce, but expect this change in rim profile to proliferate through Mavic’s deep section line-up – starting with the Pros’ rear wheels.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his unrivalled run of victories with a win in the 2015 Tour of Flanders in Belgium on Sunday.

Kristoff and Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep) had attacked in the final 30km of the race, with Norwegian Kristoff's superior finishing speed getting the better of Dutchman Terpstra on the line in Oudenaarde.

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) came in for third ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).

It's Kristoff's 10th victory of the year, fresh from three stage wins and the overall victory in the Three Days of De Panne during the week. He is now the rider with the most victories so far in 2015. It's also Katusha's second big success of the spring after Luca Paolini won Ghent-Wevelgem last Sunday.

After a few early attacks, the day's escape group formed up in the opening 20km under sunny, clear skies, consisting of Matt Brammeier (MTN-Qhubeka), Clément Venturini (Cofidis), Damien Gaudin (Ag2r), Dylan Groenewegen (Roompot), Ralf Matzka (Bora-Argon 18), Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Marco Frapporti (Androni) and Jesse Sergent (Trek).

Brammeier took the first major prize of the day, winning his body weight in beer at an intermediate sprint at the 33.6km point.

Venturini was the first to get dropped out of the break, but Sergent's race hit an untimely and unnecessary end as he was clipped by a Shimano neutral service car and came down heavily, breaking his collarbone. A Shimano vehicle was later involved in a pile-up with an FDJ car, taking out one of the team's riders.

Bradley Wiggins (Sky) also got caught in a crash on a corner, and swapped his new Pinarello Dogma K8-S suspension 'cobble bike' for a regular model. A short while later, he pulled up at the side of the road and swapped back to the K8-S. He worked his way back up through the peloton to work for his Sky team-mates but did not contest the finale as he eyes next Sunday's Paris-Roubaix.

As the escape group continued, Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) put in a surprise attack on the Molenberg with 116km to go. He broke clear of the peloton, but soon found himself in no-man's land without company and eased back into the bunch. Greipel would later help to animate the race on several climbs, and aid chasing back attacks for his Lotto-Soudal team.

By 50km to go, and the early break mopped up, the peloton had split up, with a group of contenders and their key team-mates upping the pace at the front of affairs.

Sky and Lotto-Soudal took up most of the pace-setting during a flurry of attacks, but it took Terpstra and Kristoff to create a dangerous move as they attacked within the final 30km just after the Kruisberg, opening up a gap of 30 seconds.

Thomas attacked on the Kwaremont to try and drop the rest of the chase group and catch the leaders - but he was marked by Zdenek Stybar, who became a passenger with his Etixx team-mate Terpstra up front.

Thomas and Stybar were then caught by the rest of the chasers, and the pace dropped - this played into the hands of Terpstra and Kristoff up front, who hit the final climb of the Paterberg with 30 seconds in hand.

At the top of the Paterberg, Van Avermaet and Sagan managed to gap the remainder of the chase group, including Thomas, as they pursued Terpstra and Kristoff with 13km to go. It was down to Thomas to do much of the work to try and get back in touch, but it seemed a tall order for the Welshman and the chase group never regained contact.

Terpstra and Kristoff worked hard to maintain a gap over Sagan and Van Avermaet, and in the end Kristoff's stronger legs and sprint ability were too much for 2014 Paris-Roubaix champion Terpstra, who had to settle for second place.

Thomas finished the day outside the top 10, in 14th place, and later described it as 'not the best day on the bike'.

Result

Tour of Flanders 2015, 264.2km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha

2. Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx-QuickStep

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC

4. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo

5. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

6. Lars Boom (Ned) Astana

7. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin

8. Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

9. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Etixx-QuickStep

10. Martin Elmiger (Swi) IAM Cycling

Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) won the bunch sprint at the end of stage one of Paris-Nice in France on Monday.

Kristoff out-paced home favourites Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) and Bryan Coquard (Europcar) to take his fifth win of the season. British sprinter Ben Swift (Sky) finished ninth.

Prologue winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) retained the overall race lead, tied on the same time with Rohan Dennis (BMC) in second. Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickSTep) is third at seven seconds. Geraint Thomas (Sky) gained a one second time bonus during the day's final intermediate sprint and sits in 10th overall, 13 seconds behind Kwiatkowski.

The frenetic bunch sprint came at the end of a slow day. Jonathan Hivert (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) was the first rider to attack out of Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, cresting the opening climb of the Cote de Bel Air out front to grab the King of the Mountains jersey. Hivert continued out front alone until he'd also taken maximum points at the day's first intermediate sprint, and was then caught by the peloton.

Australian sprinter Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) put himself in second spot in that first intermediate sprint to grab two bonus seconds - which would help his position on GC.

Hivert's Bretagne team-mate Anthony Delaplace was the next to attack after Hivert was scooped up by the peloton. He was joined by fellow Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), and the two built up a lead of over five minutes as the peloton was content to take it steady. The duo's time gap over the bunch reached its maximum of just over six minutes at the 100km point.

Voeckler and Delaplace were allowed to continue unchallenged as the peloton continued its leisurely pace. As the French pair hit the 20km to go mark, Voeckler upped the pace, with Delaplace matching him and their gap extended to over two minutes again - creating a bit more urgency in the peloton's chase.

That urgency almost turned to panic in the final five kilometres, as Voeckler and Delaplace continued to forge ahead out front. A variety of the sprinters' team joined forces to make the catch with two kilometres to go.

On what was otherwise an uneventful day, Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) was forced to abandon the race after crashing and suffering a suspected broken collarbone, potentially wrecking his classics season before it started.

Results

Paris-Nice 2015 stage one: Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse to Contres, 196.5km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha

2. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ

3. Bryan Coquard (Fra) Europcar

4. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling

5. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek

6. Joe Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar

7. Moreno Hofland (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

8. Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida

9. Ben Swift (GBr) Sky

10. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge all same time

Other

22. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky

Overall classification after stage one

1. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Etixx-QuickStep in 5-22-58

2. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC at same time

3. Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx-QuickStep at 7 secs

4. John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Alpecin at 9 secs

5. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana at 10 secs

6. Lars Boom (Ned) Astana at 10 secs

7. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge at 10 secs

8. Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling at 10 secs

9. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin at 13 secs

10. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky at 13 secs

Other

12. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky at 15 secs

Defending champion Niki Terpstra will wear the leader’s yellow jersey in tomorrow’s Tour of Qatar finale after surviving a late onslaught from Tinkoff-Saxo in this afternoon’s penultimate stage.

Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step) was caught on the wrong side of an echelon when the peloton split with six kilometres of today’s stage remaining; his nearest GC challenger - Tinkoff rider Maciej Bodnar- was among those who made it into the short-lived 10-rider break.

However, Bodnar and his two Tinkoff-Saxo team-mates in the lead group did not realise Terpstra was dropped, and the two groups eventually came together in the final two kilometres, denying him the chance to overturn his six-second deficit.

“Well, I don’t think they helped me,” said Terpstra of Tinkoff’s mishap. “Of course I was worried, not only about Bodnar, but about a lot of riders who were up there in the general classification.

“We kept on chasing, and luckily we chased them down in the last kilometres.”

Bodnar first found out about the split when team owner Oleg Tinkoff, team manager Bjarne Riis and team-mate Michael Morkov spoke to him by the Tinkoff race vehicles after the stage.

“If we had radios here, I would have told the guys that Terpstra was gone,” said Riis. “But I’m happy with what I saw in the final kilometres.”

Polish rider Bodnar added: “I’m disappointed. Katusha pushed hard, we pushed hard and I didn’t know what was happening behind.

“We did our best and the team was so strong – I think we were better than Etixx today.”

Terpstra could make it nine wins out of the last 10 for Etixx in Qatar tomorrow, but his biggest challenger is arguably now Alexander Kristoff.

The Katusha rider won for the third time in four stages in Medinat Al Shamal today, and moved to within 11 seconds of the Dutchman.

A maximum of 16 seconds are on offer in time bonuses during tomorrow’s final stage from Sealine Beach Resort and the Doha Corniche.

“If Kristoff goes for the bonus seconds, I will try and beat him in the sprints,” said Terpstra. “But if he wins tomorrow, he’s probably the best rider here.”

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) won his third stage at the 2015 Tour of Qatar, holding off Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) by a matter of inches on the line.

Kristoff started his sprint from the very front of the bunch after his Katusha team had set a vast pace in the lead-out, but was forced to make his move a little early as the last domestique peeled off some way from the finish line.

Sagan rode in the Norwegian’s slipstream and attempted to overtake him in the last 50 metres or so, but Kristoff, despite already having expended some effort, was able to hold him off.

Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step) held onto the overall lead, though he suffered a scare with 6km to go when Katusha used the strong winds to force a split in the peloton.

Kristoff and three of his domestiques, along with six other riders, managed to open a gap ahead of the peloton, and looked initially as though they would put time into the others - however, most of the favourites managed to haul themselves back into the lead group with 2km to go.

The wind played a large part in proceedings all day long. There was action right from the start as the peloton split into groups, with second-placed overall Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) caught out. A long chase ensued, but Bodnar’s group managed to make contact again with the lead group with 90km to go.

Following the catch the pace in the peloton slowed, allowing a group of five - Ben Hermans (BMC), Marco Haller (Katusha), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Asanat) and Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) – to break clear. They did manage to build up a lead big enough for Hayman to be virtual leader for a little while, but were caught with plenty of time to spare.

Terpstra now has just one more day to hold off the challenges of Bodnar (still six seconds behind), a rampaging Kristoff (now third overall) and Sky’s Ian Stannard (12 seconds behind) to seal the overall win.

Britain's Luke Rowe (Sky) lost his lead in the best young rider's classification as Sagan moves up to sixth overall.

It was bad news for Lars Boom (Astana): the Dutchman was disqualified from the race for drafting behind a team car.

Results

Tour of Qatar 2015, stage five: Al Zubarah Fort to Madinat Al Shamal, 153km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha in 3-03-01

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo

3. Nikias Arndt (Ger) Giant-Alpecin

4. Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx-QuickStep

5. Adam Blythe (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge

6. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling

7. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar

8. Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ

9. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing

10. Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis all same time

Other

17. Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky at same time

22. Luke Rowe (GBr) Sky at same time

Overall classification after stage five

1. Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx-QuickStep

2. Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo at 6 secs

3. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha at 11 secs

4. Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky at 12 secs

5. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing at 19 secs

6. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at 31 secs

7. Luke Rowe (GBr) Sky at 33 secs

8. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling at 39 secs

9. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana at 41 secs

10. Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx-QuickStep at 42 secs

Defending Milan-San Remo winner Alexander Kristoff issued another warning shot to his rivals this afternoon, as he won his second Tour of Qatar stage in three days at Mesaieed.

Kristoff went early in the sprint, but still beat Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) and Britain’s Adam Blythe (Orica-GreenEdge), among others.

The Norwegian has never won two races before at this stage of a season; in fact, his second win of 2014 was that of San Remo on March 23.

“I’m normally a slow starter, I didn’t expect to win here,” said the 27-year-old. “I’m perhaps going better than I thought I would be.

“Because there was a breakaway today, everybody was fresh in the final 10km. I lost my lead-out many times, but they put me in a good position eventually. I had to work hard to get to the front at the end.

“I felt I had to go early [in the sprint], otherwise somebody would jump from behind. So I started a little bit easy, and I tried to go harder. I was tired but I just held Sagan off. It was close.”

Nonetheless, the Katusha rider downplayed suggestions that his opponents should be more worried about his form ahead of the classics based on his two wins here.

“Classics are a different story, but I’m better than last year,” he said. “If I do the classics better, then they can be worried.”

Kristoff will ride Omloop Het Nieuwsblad [February 28] and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne [March 1] as part of his build up to defending his La Primavera title on March 22.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) won stage four of the Tour of Qatar, following his first win two days ago.

A split in the peloton caused in the finale also means Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) moves to just six seconds behind Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step), who remains the overall leader. British duo Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe (Sky) finished in the second group, meaning Stannard remains 12 seconds down in third and Rowe slips from fifth to sixth.

In the sprint, Kristoff got the better of Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) in a drag race to the line, and also held off a late surge from Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) to narrowly cross the line first.

Britain’s Adam Blythe (Orica-GreenEdge) put in a good performance to finish fourth. His team took control of the peloton at a roundabout four kilometres to the line, and put Blythe in a strong position to contest the sprint.

Perhaps the best work was done by Giant-Alpecin, however, as they emerged at the front in the final few hundred metres. Had Kittel been at the back of their train and not Arndt, victory may well have been theirs.

The crosswinds that so heavily affected the opening stages failed to materialise here, as the bunch struggled instead with a difficult headwind. The conditions proved too difficult for the original break featuring Jaco Venter (MTN Qhubeka), Dmitry Gruzdev (Astana) and Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen), who were all caught with 20 kilometres still to ride.

From that point on it was a gradual procession to the line for the peloton, with no riders braving an attack in the unobliging conditions.

Results
Tour of Qatar 2015, stage four: Al Thakhira to Mesaieed, 165km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha in 4-15-57

2. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo

3. Nikias Arndt (Ger) Giant-Alpecin

4. Adam Blythe (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge

5. Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF

6. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling

7. Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana

8. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana

9. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar

10. Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida all same time

Overall classification after stage four

1. Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx-QuickStep in 12-09-44

2. Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo at 6 secs

3. Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky at 12 secs

4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing at 19 secs

5. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha at 21 secs

6. Luke Rowe (GBr) Sky at 33 secs

7. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at 37 secs

8. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling at 39 secs

9. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana at 41 secs

10. Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx-QuickStep at 42 secs

Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) keeps on firing after winning Milan-San Remo, two stages in the Tour de France and the Vattenfall Cyclassics in 2014. In the Tour of Qatar's second stage today, he survived sand storms, made the splits and sprinted to his first win of 2015 on the Al Khor Corniche.

"Everyone knew it would be hard," Kristoff said. "I was there and I felt good all day."

Kristoff wiped the Qatari grit from his face and made his way to the podium to accept the flowers for the win and the golden leader's jersey. He leads by one second on Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step).

>>> Alexander Kristoff wins stage two of the Tour of Qatar

The 27-year-old was one of only 15 cyclists who made the front group. Sky's Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe also did, but Bradley Wiggins and many others were left behind in the strong cross-winds.

Few had heard of Kristoff last year at this time, but that changed when he sprinted to win the Milan-San Remo classic in March. That carried him through 2014, when he won sprints against Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel and Peter Sagan in the Tour de France and Hamburg's Vattenfall Cyclassics.

"Last year, I had a stage win in the Tour of Oman, that was good for my confidence, but I entered with low confidence because I couldn't win in the Tour of Qatar," Kristoff told Cycling Weekly.

"If you have the legs, you have the legs. Now I also have confidence. I saw that last year I could make results in the biggest races in the world. I know by training data that I'm just as good this year. That gives me confidence for 2015."

>>> Bradley Wiggins's Paris-Roubaix chances helped by Tour of Qatar performance

Qatar will prepare Kristoff for the classics, like it will for many including Boonen and Wiggins. He wants to score in the big-three of the spring: Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

"They are the main goals. I also want to be good in Paris-Nice and Ghent-Wevelgem, and E3 in Harelbeke. I want to be good in that period of March and April. I know I cannot win in every race, but I want to be there to fight for good positions and good placings."

Kristoff will peak for two more races: the Tour de France and World Championship road race in Richmond, Virginia. First, he will try to win more stages in the remaining four days of the Tour of Qatar and the race overall.

"It's a complement to the team that the pressure is on us,” he added.

“That the other teams respect us and think we can win, of course we'll have more pressure, that's normal. The pressure will be higher, but you can only do your best."

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) took the sprint win from a compact lead group on stage two of the 2015 Tour of Qatar. The Norwegian Milan-San Remo champion and double 2014 Tour de France stage winner also takes the overall lead.

Crosswinds once again served to split the peloton to pieces in conjunction with some aggressive riding, not least from the Etixx-QuickStep team of Tom Boonen and defending champion Niki Terpstra.

By the finale, an elite group of 15 riders remained out front with Andrea Guardini (Astana) placing second behind Kristoff and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) in third. The outcome confirmed the race's status as a serious warm-up for the classics contenders.

British riders Adam Blythe (Orica-GreenEdge) and Ian Stannard (Sky) both finished in the top 10 - in seventh and 10th positions respectively.

Overnight leader Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) was not part of the lead group, and so relinquished his position at the top of the table to Kristoff. Boonen sits in second place by just one second, with Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) in third at three seconds.

Luke Rowe (Sky) is the highest-placed British rider overall in 11th place, with Stannard in 12th and Blythe in 13th. All three are 10 seconds adrift of Kristoff.

Bradley Wiggins (Sky) missed the day's decisive split to finish 109th and 9-18 behind Kristoff, although he will have his eye on Tuesday's time trial stage.

>>> Tour of Qatar 2015 route: Stage by stage

Results

Tour of Qatar 2015, stage two: Al Wakra to Al Khor Corniche, 194km

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha

2. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing

4. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo

5. Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx-QuickStep

6. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling

7. Adam Blythe (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge

8. Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing

9. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing

10. Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky all same time

Other

13. Luke Rowe (GBr) Sky at same time

Overall classification after stage two

1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha in 7-39-31

2. Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx-QuickStep at 1 sec

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing at 3 secs

4. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana at 4 secs

5. Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx-QuickStep at 8 secs

6. Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing at 9 secs

7. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at 10 secs

8. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling at same time

9. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing at same time

10. Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo at same time

Other

11. Luke Rowe (GBr) Sky at 10 secs

12. Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky at 10 secs

13. Adam Blythe (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge at 10 secs

33. Andy Fenn (GBr) Sky at 1-41

42. Scott Thwaites (GBr) Bora-Argon 18 at 3-18

94. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky at 10-01