Fabian Cancellara (Trek) proved that he is getting ready for the classics when he won his first race since last year’s Tour of Flanders on the second stage of the Tour of Oman. After an aggressive and exciting finale that included two short, steep climbs, the Swiss escaped with 10-15 riders and he beat Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) in a sprint to open his 2015 account and take the leader’s jersey.

In 2014, Fabian Cancellara won the Tour of Flanders but the Swiss regretted that he had taken so few victories due to his single-eyed focus on his big goals. This year he has vowed to change things by trying to claim more wins right from the beginning of the season and after he missed out on his first victory in the Tour of Qatar time trial, he opened his account in today’s stage of the Tour of Oman.

The 195km stage was mostly flat but had a very tricky finale as two short, steep climbs featured inside the final 25km. The final ascent summited just 4.5km from the finish, making it the perfect launch pad for a late attack.

With Andrea Guardini having no chance to defend his lead, no team seemed willing to control the race for a long time until Tinkoff-Saxo finally kicked into action. Peter Sagan won this stage two years ago and was keen to open his Tinkoff-Saxo account in today’s race.

As Movistar also had big plans with Alejandro Valverde and BMC wanted to win the stage with Greg Van Avermaet, the race finally got going and when they reached the late climbs, the early three-rider breakaway was within sight. This was the signal for Movistar to apply the pressure and under the impetus of the Spanish teams, several riders, including Thiabut Pinot (FDJ), were dropped.

As they hit the final climb, the attacking started, with Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka), Ben Hermans (BMC) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) being among the animators. However, it was Valverde who launched a big attack and when they crested the summit, the peloton had exploded to pieces.

A bit of regrouping took place and so it was a 10-15 rider group that reached the finish together. It came down to a sprint and here Cancellara again proved that he is very fast in a  sprint at the end of a hard race when he relegated Valverde and Van Avermaet to the minor spots on the podium while Sagan could only manage fifth behind Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida).

With the win, Cancellara also takes the overall lead and he goes into tomorrow’s third stage with a four-second advantage over Van Avermaet. With no categorized climbs on the course, the Swiss has a very good chance of defending his lead on a day that seems to suit the sprinters.

A tricky finale

After the opening sprint stage, the Tour of Oman continued with a very tricky 195km stage from Al Hazm Castle to Al Bustan. The first part was almost completely flat but the stage had a very nasty sting in its tail. Inside the final 25km, the riders tackled too smaller climbs, with the Al Jissah climb (1km, 9%) summiting just 4.5km from the finish and setting the scene for a finale that could suit strong sprinters, puncheurs or maybe even explosive GC riders.

Like yesterday the riders took the start in brutally hot conditions and they got the race off to a very fast start. In the first few kilometres, there were lots of attacks until a four-rider breakaway finally took off.

An early break

Enrico Barbin (Bardiani), Preben Van Hecke, Jef van Meirhaeghe (both Topsport Vlaanderen) and Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) got clear and as the peloton slowed completely down, they were quickly allowed to build a big advantage. After just 8km of racing, they were already 3.25 ahead and it even reached more than 5 minutes before the peloton started to stabilize the situation.

While van Meirhaeghe beat Smukulis and Barbin at the first intermediate sprint, Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEDGE) who was one of the outsiders for the stage, abandoned due to knee pain. At this point, the gap was 5.10 and when the riders reached the 50km mark, it hadn’t changed at all.

Barbin punctures out of the group

Barbin was unfortunate to puncture out of the led group and quickly decided to wait for the peloton which was led by the Astana team of race leader Andrea Guardini. They kept the gap relatively stable and after 80km of racing, it had reached 5.35.

The escapees got another 10 seconds of advantage before Trek started to chase a bit but they quickly stopped their effort. This meant that the gap reached 8.10 after 100km of racing and this finally prompted Peter Sagan’s Tinkoff-Saxo team to react.

The peloton splits up

The Russian team started to ride hard on the front and as they hit a windy section, the peloton split, with Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ) being among the riders to be left behind. It came back together though and now Movistar were also working on the front as the gap had come down to 5.15.

Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani) abandoned the race due to illness while the gap continued to come down. With 80km to go, it was just 3.25 and the peloton slowed down again.

BMC hit the front

Katusha started to ride on the front to keep the gap around the 4-minute mark while van Meirhaeghe beat van Hecke and Smukulis in the final intermediate sprint. At this point the gap was 4.25 but now BMC decided that it was time to set Greg Van Avermaet up for the win. The American team hit the front and with 35km to go, they had brought the gap down to 3.10.

When the riders hit the first of the two climbs in the finale with 23km to go, the gap was down to just 2.25 and this was the signal for Smukulis to attack. The Latvian left his companions behind and with 15km to go, he was the lone leader with a 36-second advantage.

Movistar force the pace

Movistar were now riding on the front and it was too hard for Smukulis to keep the Spanish team at bay. At the 14km mark, the race was back together and everything was set for a punchy finale.

The peloton was down to 80-90 riders as Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was one of the riders to have been dropped and Movistar were setting a hard pace but this did not stop Van Hecke from trying to get clear again. However, he had no luck and things were back together when they hit the final climb.

Breschel sets a hard pace

Three riders first tried to get clear but they had no luck as Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) was now setting a brutal pace for Tinkoff-Saxo. The peloton split to pieces while more riders tried to get clear.

Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Ben Hermans riders managed to get a 10-second advantage with 5km to go but now it was the time for Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to attack. Tejay van Garderen (BMC) was quick to respond and as they hit the descent, a bigger group that also included the likes of Julian Arredondo (Trek), Sagan and Van Avermaet. In the end, however, they sprinted for the win and it was Cancellara who emerged as the fastest.