Tour of Oman organiser Christian Prudhomme has formulated a much hiller route for the second edition of the six-stage Tour of Oman, starting on Tuesday, February 15, and running until Sunday, February 20 2011.
The inaugural event last year was won by Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss rider returns for 2011 wearing the number one plate for new team, Leopard-Trek, but he may find this year's tougher route doesn't favour him quite so well.
Though the two Middle East races get lumped together, the mountains and individual time trial mark out the Tour of Oman from the previous week's flat, wind-swept and sandy Tour of Qatar - largely dominated by sprinters. This year, Oman's stage four finishes part-way up a 3,000 metre climb, the Jabal al Akhdhar or Green Mountain, prior to the following day's 18.5 kilometre test against the clock.
Many of the 16 teams taking part will use either the same or similar line-ups as they did in Qatar. Classics specialists will be looking to improve their form ahead of their imminent spring campaign in Europe, sprinters will still have an opportunity to win on the flatter stages, climbers will have a chance to test their legs on stage four, and time trial specialists will have their first chance of a long test against the clock this season. Something for everyone.
Seven British riders will take part in the race: Russell Downing (Team Sky), Jeremy Hunt (Team Sky), Ian Stannard (Team Sky), Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad), Andrew Fenn (An Post-Sean Kelly), Mark McNally (An Post-Sean Kelly) and Roger Hammond (Garmin-Cervelo).
Both Hammond and Hunt are in good shape, having placed fifth and sixth overall behind winner Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) in the Tour of Qatar. Cavendish may have three or four chances to take a couple of stage wins in sprints if he has sufficiently recovered from his Qatar crash injuries.
Sky riders Downing, Hunt and Stannard will likely rally around Norwegian team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen, who placed second overall last year behind Cancellara after beating him in the time trial.
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Along with Cancellara and Boasson Hagen, other likely contenders for the overall include BMC debutant Taylor Phinney, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana).
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Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
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