Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) took the biggest win of his career when he became a hugely surprising winner of the Tour of Oman queen stage on the Green Mountain. Having followed Tejay van Garderen’s attack in the final kilometres, the Spaniard managed to beat the American and take the overall lead with two stages left in the Omani race.

A few years ago, Rafael Valls was regarded as a big climbing talent but for several reasons, the strong Spaniard failed to capitalize on his great talent. Instead, he evolved into a solid domestique for Rui Costa at Lampre-Merida and he was expected to play a similar role in the Tour of Oman.

When the former world champion faded in stage 2, however, Valls suddenly got the chance to lead the Italian team. Today he made sure to benefit fully from his opportunity when he became a surprise winner of the queen stage on the famous Green Mountain in the Omani desert.

Valls rode solidly near the front of the peloton as Tejay van Garderen’s BMC team gradually whittled down the group on the brutally steep slopes. While Costa quickly lost contact and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and race leader Fabian Cancellara (Trek) also had to succumb to the fast pace, the Spaniard bided his time in the group that constantly got smaller and smaller.

Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) decided to test his legs by launching a few attacks on the lower slopes but the American team had everything under control. Instead, the Italian got distanced when Ben Hermans hit the front for BMC and brought the group down to just 13 riders.

The fireworks started with 2km to go when Jacques Janse van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka) launched an attack and he was quickly followed by Daniel Moreno (Katusha). However, that move only served as a signal for van Garderen to make his planned attack and this made the group explode.

Valls and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) were the only riders who could keep up with the strong American and as they passed the flamme rouge, they were 12 seconds ahead of a lone Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) while a resurgent Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was just 6 seconds further adrift.

In the end, it came down to a battle between the front trio. Majka was the first to get dropped and inside the final few hundred metres, Valls emerged as the strongest.

With the win, Valls also takes the overall lead but he can take nothing for granted yet. Tomorrow the riders face another very tough stage that includes four passages of the steep Bousher Alamrat climb inside the final 70km before the riders descend to a flat finsih. Two years ago that stage ended up being more decisive than the Green Mountain and so Valls can expect to get under attack on the penultimate day of the race.

The queen stage

After a first half that was mostly for the sprinters, it was time for the GC riders to battle it out on stage 4 which was the traditional queen stage of the race. It brought the riders over 189 from the Sultan Qaboos Grande Mosque to the top of the famous Green Mountain. The first part was slightly rising before the riders hit flat roads that led to the bottom of the decisive climb. At only 5.7km in length, the final ascent was a brutal one as it had an average gradient of 10.5% and was set go a long way in deciding the overall winner of the race.

There was nowhere to hide for the riders when they took the start in front of the Grande Mosque in Muscat as the heat was again brutal. One rider failed to continue in the race as Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen) had fallen sick and had to leave the race.

Four riders take off

Usually, it takes some time for a break to go clear in a mountain stage but today there was no battle at all. Right from the start, Andrea Guardini (Astana), Jef van Meirhaeghe, Gijs van Hoecke (both Topsport Vlaanderen) and Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-QuickStep) attacked and they were immediately allowed to build an advantage.

At the 4km mark, they were already 1 minute ahead and when Guardini beat van Meirhaeghe and van Hoecke in the first intermediate sprint at the 18.5km mark, it was 4.50. Guardini was only there to pick up points for the points jersey and van Meirhaeghe only wanted to consolidate his lead in the sprints jersey so those two riders decided to drop back, leaving just Vandenbergh and van Hoecke in the break.

A massive gap

The pair were 5.20 ahead at the 23km mark but the peloton was in no hurry to organize a chase. After they had covered 37km in the first hour, the gap reached 7 minutes but after 50km of racing, it seemed to stabilize around the 8-minute mark.

The riders only covered 28km in the second hour as the peloton again stepped off the gap. With 110km to go, the gap had suddenly reached a massive 14.45 as no one seemed to be willing to hit the front.

BMC start to chase

Finally, things got going a bit and in the feeding zone with 97km to go, the advantage had been brought down to 12 minutes. BMC had taken responsibility to lead the chase and with 85km to go, the gap dropped below the 10-minute mark.

With 72km to go, the hard work by BMC had brought the gap down to 6.10 and now Movistar and Trek also started to work with the American team. However, the escapees still had something left in the tank and they managed to stabilize the gap around the 6-minute mark.

Cataldo abandons

While Dario Cataldo (Astana) left the race, the gap continued to come down and with 40km to go, the combined efforts of Movistar, BMC and Trek had reduced it to just 4 minutes. However, no one was willing to really commit themselves and as they entered the final 25km, it was still 3.50.

The peloton finally upped the pace and with 13km to go, the escapees were only 2.40 ahead. 2km later, Vandenbergh beat van Hoecke in the final intermediate sprint while Guardini picked up the final point 1.45 later.

BMC hit the front

With 10km to go, the gap was 1 minute but now the fight for position had really started. Even before the riders hit the 5.7km ascent, the escapees were brought back and the battle was set to kick off.

BMC used their strong team to set a brutal pace right from the lower slopes and immediately, the peloton exploded to pieces. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Julian Arredondo (Trek) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) positioned themselves behind the leader of the American team, Tejay van Garderen, while the fast pace saw Fabian Cancellara (Trek) get dropped.

Nibali attacks

Nibali decided to hit out early as he launched several attacks. However, BMC just kept riding their fast pace and constantly brought the Italian back.

With 3km to go, 20 riders were left in the front group as Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Leopold König (Sky) lost contact. Ben Hermans was now doing the damage for BMC and this was too much for Nibali who paid the price for his many attacks. The Belgian was riding strongly and only 12 riders could follow him

Van Garderen makes his move

Jacques Janse van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka) was the next to try and he was followed by Daniel Moreno (Katusha). However, they only served as a launch pad for van Garderen who made his big move with 2km to go.

Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) were the only riders who could follow the American. As the trio passed the flamme rouge, they were 12 seconds ahead of Valverde while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was 18 seconds behind. Inside the final kilometre, the road got too steep for Majka and then the final battle was left to Valls and van Garderen