Tour of Oman: Lopez wins stage 5 on Green Mountain

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Miguel Angel Lopez and the Astana team conquered the steep slopes of Green Mountain at the Tour of Oman, with the Colombian climber winning stage 5, while teammate Alexey Lutsenko finished second to take the overall lead in the race.

The duo went into the final kilometre alone after Astana set a high pace, with chaser Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) finishing third at 12 seconds down.

A six-man break formed early in the race and stayed away until the climb to the finish. The last of them was caught halfway up the 5.7km climb. That set the stage for Astana’s action, as Jan Hirt lead his two teammates up the steep road.

The one-two on Green Mountain sets up a one-two in the overall classification for Astana. Lutsenko now leads Lopez by 11 seconds, with Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), who tried to go with the Astana riders but finished fourth at 15 seconds, is now third overall at 28 seconds.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) was one of the favourites going into the stage but was not up to the challenge, finishing 1:32 down. Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin) fought hard to defend his overall placing, finishing fifth on the stage at 22 seconds. The Australian is fifth overall at 32 seconds. The USA's Pete Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) was sixth at 25 seconds, with young British rider Dan Pearson (Aqua Blue Sport) an impressive seventh at 33 seconds. 

How it unfolded

Stage 5 was short but not sweet at 152km, with the testing 5.7km climb up the slopes of Green Mountain and a hot day making for a tough stage.

A group of six formed and got away early as the peloton stayed focused on the decisive finale. Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates), Benjamin Declercq (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Pim Ligthart (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), Nicholas Schultz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Robin Carpenter and Adam De Vos (Rally Cycling) were in the move.

The field was happy to let them go and their gap grew rapidly. The gap topped out at 4:30, but dropped to about 4:00 with 100km to go. With 73km still left, the gap had increased to 5:05, and the temperature had also gone up to 32°C.

The peloton let the break enjoy its time in the sun, knowing that the 10.5 per cent average gradient of Green Mountain would change things entirely. With 40km to go the gap started dropping slowly but steadily. Indeed, by 12km to go, it was only 2:40.

The six leaders had an advantage of 1:50 as they started up the climb. Marcato was the first to jump from the group to try a solo move but Carpenter caught and dropped him, with the field less than a minute back. With three kilometres still to climb, Carpenter was alone in the lead, with the rest of the break shattered behind him and the peloton trying to make up the 50-second gap.

The young American had no chance on the steep slopes of Green Mountain and was caught with two kilometres to go. That opened the way for Astana, with Jan Hirt setting the page for Lopez and Lutsenko. Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) was also with them, and a group of 10 riders was at 15 seconds, with everyone on their limit.

As the road curved upwards, the three Astana riders slowly pulled away from Izagirre, while BMC's Nicolas Roche tried to move up and chase.

With one kilometre to go, Lutsenko and Lopez were together in the lead, with Izagirre 10 seconds back and Cofidis' Jesus Herrada chasing.

The two Astana riders stayed together around the final curve and were able to share the honours at the finish line. Lopez took the stage and strengthened his lead in the best young rider competition, while Lutsenko took the overall race lead.

With only the final flat stage on the Muscat Corniche left to race, Astana look set to dominate the 2018 Tour of Oman.

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