The final stage of the 2019 Tour of Oman started in Al Mouj Muscat and finished on Matrah Corniche after 135.5 kilometers of racing.
The final stage win went to Giacomo Nizzolo in a bunch sprint, with Davide Ballerini taking his first podium for Astana Pro Team by finishing third behind Sonny Colbrelli. Nizzolo’s win wrapped up a good week of racing in Oman for Team Dimension Data, seeing multiple strong finishes, thanks to Gibbons and Nizzolo.
“I am super (happy) about today’s victory,” Nizzolo said at the finish. “The team did a great job all day long. It was not an easy sprint because there were some climbs before reaching the finishing circuit and also there was a kicker with 3km to go. All I can say is I am super happy and thanks to the team, we need to carry on like this now going into the next races.”
Astana Pro Team’s Alexey Lutsenko successfully defended his race lead to seal his second win of the Tour of Oman. Domenico Pozzovivo (second on 44” seconds) and Jesus Herrada (third on 47” seconds) completed the overall podium. Lutsenko also took the green ‘points’ jersey today, after winning three stages this week.
“I’m delighted to win this race again after last year’s victory,” Lutsenko said. “This time I felt even better during the whole race, and together with the support I received from my teammates this edition was even more successful with three stage wins. It’s nice to have this confirmation of my form, now it’s important that I bring this feeling to the first goals of the season.
It was a hectic day, with a big crash and a lot of stressful moments. But all the time, especially Hugo Houle, Magnus Cort, and Zhandos Bizhigitov were next to me to keep me out of trouble. But now we’ve finished, I’m most of all very happy that we were able to work like this and to seal this overall win. We will have a small celebration, but the main goals of the season are still ahead of us, – said Alexey Lutsenko.
“To win the Tour of Oman for a third time with Astana Pro Team, after Vincenzo Nibali in 2016 and Alexey Lutsenko last year, is a great achievement,” said sports director Dmitriy Fofonov. “Of course, it’s very important to see that Lutsenko is in a good shape for his most important objectives for this season. But the whole team made a great impression this week, for example, today’s third place in the stage for Davide Ballerini. We’re happy about this week and are looking forward to the first big races coming up next.”
Shortly after the day’s breakaway took off, Astana Pro Team took the lead in the peloton but when the advantage grew to 2.5 minutes for the break, the sprinter’s teams took over to close the gap. In the final laps, the Kazakh team managed to stay in the first positions of the bunch to avoid any risks.
After Davide Ballerini finished third in a fast bunch sprint, the back-to-back Tour of Oman win of Alexey Lutsenko was a fact. Overall, he finished 44” seconds in front of Domenico Pozzovivo and 47” seconds of Jesus Herrada. Next to the red jersey for his GC win, he also took the win in the points classification and received the green jersey.
Stage 6 Brief Results:
- Giacomo Nizzolo (Dimension Data) in 3h7’12”, 10″ bonus
- Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) s.t., 6″ bonus
- Davide Ballerini (Astana Pro Team) s.t., 4″ bonus
- Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) s.t.
- Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) s.t
Final General Classification:
- Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) in 21h45’51”
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain Merida) at 44″
- Jesus Herrada (Cofidis Credit Solutions) at 47″
- Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) at 53″
- Elie Gesbert (Team Arkea – Samsic) at 1’03”
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