Today chaos overshadowed the 2015 Tour of Oman right from the early morning. The race was scheduled to cover its fifth stage today, over 151.5km from Al Sawadi Beach to the Ministry of Housing, but "the initial start was cancelled due to strong winds," Movistar Team DS on Asian turf Chente García Acosta explained.

"The wind speed and the sandstorm it caused advised against starting from that point. We went by car to the second of the climbs to be tackled in the final circuit, got the guys on the bikes and started a neutralized ride over that ascent and the descent that completed the circuit." The modified route included three and a half lap around the Bousher El Amerat KOM, for a total of 95km.

"On that descent, due to extreme heat - 38º, 40ºC - the downhill and the hairpin turns, we all started to puncture 'en masse'. We counted eleven punctures from our team only in that descent. It's true that a neutralized peloton goes a bit slower, you brake more and it's easier to have a puncture but looking at the situation, the riders searched for a solution to avoid it. Deemed too dangerous, the race was cancelled. There were riders that hurt their hands due to the heat when taking off their punctured wheel, and teams like Bardiani ran out of replacements after so many flat tires. It's thought that the riders will get to the finish and cover the final straight neutralized, but it's not yet confirmed," he finished when speaking around 3pm local.