Tour of Oman: Nizzolo nails final stage, Lutsenko takes overall

Giacomo Nizzolo won the final stage of the Tour of Oman and his first with new team Dimension Data yesterday as Alexey Lutsenko secured a second consecutive race title.

Dimension Data's Giacomo Nizzolo (L) wins the final stage of the Tour of Oman (Getty) Source: Getty

Stage 6 was not without drama but a formality for Lutsenko, who claimed three victories throughout to seal his title defence and contribute to Astana’s early season domination.

“It’s nice to have this confirmation of my form, now it’s important that I bring this feeling to the first goals of the season,” Lutsenko said. “It was a hectic day, with a big crash and a lot of stressful moments. But all the time, especially Hugo Houle, Magnus Cort, and Zhandos Bizhigitov were next to me to keep me out of trouble.

“I’m most of all very happy that we were able to work like this and to seal this overall win.”

Nizzolo won a bunch sprint from Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) and Lutsenko’s teammate Davide Ballerini at Matrah Corniche. The Italian has joined Dimension Data this season following a long tenure at Trek-Segafredo, which underwent an overhaul last year, buying Richie Porte and climbers to assist the Australian at the expense of some sprinters.

“The first goal for me was to be up there after the climb and afterwards I said why not, let’s try,” Nizzolo said. “It was not a real lead-out, it was a bit hectic in the final, but I could find a good wheel and sprinted with about 200m to go. It was close, but I’m happy I could get it.”

Andre Greipel wasn’t in the mix with new team Arkea-Samsic, saying he and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) nearly crashed and were unable to start their sprint in the messy fight for positions.

“The team did a really good job today. I am just disappointed I couldn’t sprint,” Greipel said.

The sixth stage featured two short and punchy climbs, including the Al Jissah some 40km from the line where a crash took out Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) among others.

Kristoff, who took line honours at Matrah Corniche last year, suffered from cuts to his leg and arm after landing on a pile of bikes and abandoned. Pozzovio finished the stage with torn knicks and red raw road rash to secure second place overall ahead of Jesus Herrada (Cofidis).