The, on paper, exciting stage 5 of the Tour of Oman got a bit too exciting as sandstorms, heavy winds and extreme temperatures raised serious concerns for rider safety before and during the stage. Consequently the stage was first shortened, later neutralized and then completely canceled.

Sean Yates, leading sport director, agrees that it is a tough decision to cancel a race but underlines that when big safety issues are present they must be taken seriously.

“Fortunately, cancellations of races and stages happen very rarely, but we are at the mercy of the weather and nature out here – so we got to be careful when it’s extreme like today. Although every single rider wants to compete and race, teams and race organizers have to consider the safety of the riders”, says Sean Yates and adds:

“We had high winds and heavy sandstorms at the start of the stage, and when we got going after a transfer the temperature reached 47° C”.

The sandstorms at the start of Saturday’s penultimate and possibly deciding stage caused the parcours to be shortened from 152km to 95km. After a transfer to the new and improvised start, the riders got going but were forced to stop as heavy braking on neutralized descents and high temperatures meant that some teams suffered punctures randomly.

“The downhill sections were neutralized due to the conditions but this meant that the riders were braking behind the race officials. So some teams had problems with tires blowing out, which then presented a danger to our riders, who could be dragged down in a crash”, explains Sean Yates.

The race was then suspended for an hour, as riders, teams and race organizers debated the situation from under a bridge in the soaring heat. Eventually a decision where reached and the stage was canceled.

This effectively means that the GC is on the brink of being settled with Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) looking to take the overall win with Rafal Majka in 4th place overall.

“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t race today. The stage had a really exciting parcours and Rafal was feeling good. I also know that BMC wanted to shake things up with van Garderen. So we could have had a pretty exciting stage, also for the GC. Tomorrow is really straight forward, but we’ll do our best to bring home a good result in the sprint”, finishes Sean Yates.