Italian sprinter Andrea Guardini (Astana) won the opening stage of the 2015 Tour of Oman on Tuesday and will wear the leader's jersey going into stage two.
Guardini crossed the line to take his first win of the season ahead of Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) in second and Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) in third.
Irish sprinter Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) came home in eighth place, with British rider Adam Blythe (Orica-GreenEdge) in 19th. The vast majority of the peloton finished in the same time as Guardini.
Earlier in the stage, a four-man escape group had broken away from the peloton comprising Jef Van Meirhaeghe (Topsport-Vlaanderen), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Argon18), Johann Van Zyl (MTN-Qhubeka) and Simone Andreetta (Bardiani-CSF).
After the feedzone, 24-year-old Van Zyl went solo and his former companions were caught. The peloton captured Van Zyl with around 30km to go, setting up a bunch sprint.
Wednesday's stage two runs from Al Hazm Castle to Al Bustan over a distance of 195km and features two categorised climbs in the final 20km which could serve as a launchpad for a late attack.
