West Australian Cameron Meyer has finished tenth on stage two of the Tour of Oman, confirming the continuation of the Australian summer form that recently crowned him 2015 Jayco Herald Sun Tour champion.

Meyer was given the same time as stage winner Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) in a reduced bunch sprint which sees him just ten seconds off the pace overall.

“The most important priority today was to have Cam in a position to ensure he didn't lose time against the climbers,” sport director Laurenzo Lapage said.

“If Cam didn't get boxed in a better result was possible but if we look the top of the general classification, there are a lot of guys who will fall away on the fourth stage. With a good climb, Cam can go for a high overall result.”

A little more resistance than stage one was shown before the day’s breakaway was allowed to establish.  

What was a break of four riders before Enrico Barbin (Bardini – CSF Pro Team) punctured, became three as Gatis Smukulis (Team Katusha), Preben van Hecke and Jef van Meiraeghe (Topsport Vlaaderen – Baloise) went ahead with the job.

With 100km to go, the gap topped eight minutes and Tinkoff-Saxo responded in support of Peter Sagan who began the day as one of the favourites.

With others joining the chase, the trio’s advantage was less than two minutes 30seconds at the bottom of the first classified climb with 23km to the finish.

As expected, the two late punchy climbs broke up the field with the break caught and a select group of less than 20 riders battling it out for stage honours.

“As previewed it was a tough last 20km,” Lapage said. “Teams as Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo made the race hard to make the lead group as small as possible.”

“I must say I expected that a group this small would make it to the finish, especially with the long stage distance so early in the season.”

Belgian Jens Keukeliere abandoned today’s stage for precautionary reasons ahead of the Classics due to knee soreness following his crash in Qatar.

Tomorrow’s stage three starts and finishes in the Al Mussanah Sport City. The 158.5km is one for the sprinters as a flat stage with no classified climbs.