The gloves finally came off on the fourth stage of the Tour of Oman, perhaps for the first time in professional cycling’s early-season desert campaign.
While the general air that pervades the peloton’s February engagements in Dubai, Qatar and Oman is one that tends to the view that nothing should be taken too seriously before the return to Europe in March, the sheer quality of the field assembled in Oman places the emphasis more on ‘first blood’.
With a line-up that pits Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) against Giro d’Italia champion, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana); that places the sprint powerhouses at the head of Belgium’s two finest teams, Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) head-to-head, and which puts Peter Sagan (Cannondale Pro Cycling) against just about everyone else, such is the breadth of his ability, the racing at the business end of the Tour of Oman was never likely to be laissez-faire.
All of the aforementioned were in the thick of the action on stage four, to a greater or lesser degree, leaving the cycling fan with much to consider. Here are five observations from the 173km run from Wadi Al Abiyad to the Ministry of Housing in Boshar.
