Stage five at the Tour of Oman was cancelled on safety grounds as high winds, sand storms and extreme temperatures hampered the peloton.

After starting the day as a proposed 151-kilometre test, the start at Al Sawadi Beach was moved due to sand storms.

The situation remained fluid with a shortened course mooted, initially with three and a half laps of the finishing circuit around the Ministry of Housing.

A spate of punctures in the warm temperatures caused the peloton to come to a halt under a bridge as the situation was discussed with race organisers.

The decision was eventually taken to cancel the stage, with the riders heading to the finish under neutralised conditions.

With no movement on the overall leaderboard, Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) maintains his nine-second advantage with one stage to go. Wout Poels remains Team Sky’s best-placed rider in 15th spot.

Sports Director Nicolas Portal talked TeamSky.com through the unusual stop-start stage and explained the reason why the action was halted.

“It was a particularly strange day,” admitted the Frenchman. “There were questions about safety so when that is the case then it is always better to be careful.

“The parcours didn’t help matters today with the descending in the hot weather. We cannot be sure that all the teams are using the highest quality material with wheels and brakes. In the end they cancelled the stage.

“Some riders on other teams were getting punctures in the neutralised section before the stage started. I think what happened was that they went up the climb, and then they went down the descent so slowly behind the commissaire car that everyone had to brake. Some teams maybe weren’t using the best wheels and the temperature was too high which caused punctures.

“For us everything was fine. We have great partners and great mechanics so everything was okay!

“Earlier they had to move the start because of sandstorms. That was a good decision for sure and it was strange to see everything in orange. It’s been an interesting day.”