Fabian Cancellara moves into Tour of Oman race lead

Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) won stage two of the Tour of Oman, and takes over overall leadership of the race in the process.

The Swiss rider managed to win the sprint ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) among a small group of riders who made it to the line together, after the race had been split on the final climb.

Among those to finish in this lead group were Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida), Rafal Majka and Peter Sagan (both Tinkoff-Saxo), although the latter may be disappointed to have not won the sprint having made the selection.

Sky’s leader Leopold Konig was dropped on the climb, along with other big names Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), all of whom appear to be out of contention for the overall. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) also lost time, coming home 46 seconds behind Cancellara.

Earlier, a break of four featuring Jef Van Meirhaeghe, Preben Van Hecke (both Topsport Vlaanderen), Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) and Enrico Barbin (Bardiana-CSF) – before he suffered an unfortunate puncture and dropped back to the bunch – had broken clear, but were caught with just over ten kilometres to go.

After today’s lively stage tomorrow is likely to be a straightforward bunch sprint, with no categorised climbs for the riders to tackle.

>>> Tour of Oman route: Stage by stage

Results

Tour of Oman 2015, stage two: Al Hazm Castle to Al Bustan, 195km

1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing

2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar

3. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing

4. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida

5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo

6. Julien Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing

7. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo

8. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha

9. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana

10. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge all same time

Overall classification after stage two

1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing

2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 4 secs

3. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Argon 18 at 5 secs

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

5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo at 10 secs

6. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing at 10 secs

7. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana at 10 secs

8. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha at 10 secs

9. Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 10 secs

10. Julien Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing at 10 secs