Colombian climbing ace Rigoberto Uran left Team Sky in the winter in pursuit of his Grand Tour ambitions, and after making his debut for Omega Pharma-Quickstep at Challenge Mallorca this is his first big chance to put the hurt on his former team’s ambitions. With the Belgian super team riding the crest of a wave after their stunning showing in Qatar, they will be looking for similar domination in Oman and certainly have the squad to do so.

Niki Terpstra and Tom Boonen will hope to continue where they left off after their success in Qatar, while recently re-crowned world cyclo-cross Champion Zdenek Stybar will hope to prove his form off-road can be replicated on the tarmac. Stijn Vandenbergh and Guillaume van Keirsbulck also feature after their top-ten finishes in Qatar, and the Belgian team look well-equipped to challenge for both stages and, if Uran can show the sort of form which earned him second at last year’s Giro on the mountainous stages four and five, look good for the overall win too.