Patrick Konrad of BORA – ARGON 18 defended his 10th place in the GC on the final stage at the Tour of Oman. He also became second in the best young rider classification. The 23-years old Austrian scored the best result the team ever achieved at the Tour of Oman. Sam Bennett sprinted to a top 10 result in the last sprint of the tour. The stage victory went to break-away rider Matthias Brändle (IAM). His fellow attackers Iljo Keisse (Etixx – Quick Step) and Jef van Meierhaeghe (Topspsort Vlaanderen - Baloise) were relegated to the podium places. The main peloton crossed the finish line with a gap of one minute.

“A break-away group was formed early in the race today and one could expect that some teams wanted the sprint. But since no team felt really responsible, the gap increased quickly. Sam didn’t feel that good in the last days and that was the reason why we didn’t invest that much in the chase. He came over the climbs pretty well today and he sprinted into the Top10”, Sport Director Enrico Poitschke describes the day.

“Patrick defended his tenth place in the GC. That’s a great result for him and the entire team. After Dominik [Nerz] has been ill in January we didn’t expect such a result in the GC for the team here in Oman. Therefore we are very happy with the outcome. In total, both of the last stage races went really well for us. With the stage victory in Qatar and the great result here in Oman, we are optimistic for the upcoming races”, Poitschke continues.