Hirt secures Oman title as Cavendish rues Gaviria victory

Jan Hirt held firm to secure the overall title at the Tour of Oman, while Mark Cavendish was left fuming in the wake of Fernando Gaviria’s Stage 6 victory.

Jan Hirt wins the overall title at Tour of Oman as Mark Cavendish fumes at Fernando Gaviria's Stage 6 victory Source: Getty Images

Hirt finished one minute ahead of Italian rival Fausto Masnada in the general ranking, having set up his ascension to the red jersey with a win atop Green Mountain in Stage 5.

What decided the green jersey, however, was much more dramatic on the final day at Mutrah Corniche, and left Cavendish banging his handlebars in frustration.

Gaviria’s lead-out rider, Maximiliano Richeze, appeared to cut across Cavendish during the sprint to the finish line, seemingly scuppering the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl star’s hopes of bagging the green.

Richeze was later disqualified for his actions, but not before his UAE Team Emirates teammate crossed the line in first place ahead of BikeExchange-Jayco youngster Kaden Groves.

“We take this decision because Richeze is coming to the right-hand side and he blocked Cavendish off,” race jury head Jempi Jooren told Wielerflits.

“We think Cavendish probably can win the race, but he lost the green jersey, so it was not a very big act of violence but it’s a very big act on sporting reasons.

“Probably if Cavendish wins the stage, then he wins the green jersey too. That’s probably the biggest reason to disqualify.”

The final stage took riders 132.5 kilometres from Al Mouj Muscat to the Mutrah Corniche and catered to the sprinters despite two nine-per cent climbs with 50 and 32 kilometres to go, respectively.

Gaviria acknowledged his team had coped with the conditions a bit better than some of his rivals, before dismissing Cavendish’s protestations in support of Richeze.

“I don’t speak with Mark because it isn’t like that,” Gaviria explained.

“Max just started to the right side from the guy from BikeExchange and then, if you won’t pass, you need to move.

“Sometimes it’s the wrong way. The day Mark won (Stage 2), the guy from Arkea-Samsic [Amaury Capiot] passed me and then closed me to the barrier and then nothing happened.

“That is cycling. It’s not like fighting every day and it goes like this. Max tried to go in front and then didn’t really look in behind and didn’t really go to the barrier.

“When Mark said something, I saw the video and Max went a little bit to the left. Max is not a bad guy to do something like that.

“It’s not new in cycling but it’s like that. Sometimes in the sprint, you take the sprint the wrong way and then you need to brake.”