Two days ago at the Muscat Classic, Baptiste Veistroffer had tried, spending a day alone in a breakaway challenging the group against the Omani heat. Today he started from kilometer zero with four other attackers, believing until the end when all others had been caught. Veistroffer arrived at the Yitti Hills finish line in disbelief, alone and having just beaten all the most anticipated riders. Fifth place for Diego Ulissi, the best Italian athlete today.

THE RACE. A challenging day for the second stage of the Tour of Oman, a hilly route perfect for long-range attacks. The group started from Al Rustaq Fort to reach Yitti Hills after 191 km, following the same route as the previous edition. After a relatively simple start, they tackled the climbs of Fanja (1.1 km at 9%), Jabal Road (3.3 km at 9.2%), Halamriyah (900 m at 9.4%) to conclude with the final climb of 1.6 km with an average of 6.8%.

The first part of the day was characterized by an attack by 5 athletes: Gil Gelders (Soudal Quickstep), Tim Marsman (Alpecin Premier Tech) Said Alrahbi (Oman Team), Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarche), Patryk Goszczurny (Visma Lease a Bike) who went in search of valuable points for the most combative classification. The 5 breakaway riders managed to gain up to a maximum of 3'30" advantage, but on the Fanja climb, Gelders and Alrahbi raised the white flag. On the Jabal Road climb, many fast riders lost the group's wheel, including stage one winner and overall leader Sebastian Molano.

The race completely broke up on the Halamriyah climb, and Veistroffer remained alone in the attack. The French athlete managed to well maintain his advantage over the group and approach the final Yitti Hills climb with over a minute lead. Adam Yates and UAE Team tried to close the gap, but without success and had to settle for positions further back.

Tomorrow the Tour of Oman will become even more intense with the Samail "Al Fayhaa Resthouse" - Eastern Mountain stage. The finish is at the end of a 3.6 km climb, and the general classification riders will no longer be able to hide.

FINISH ORDER

1 Veistroffer Baptiste Lotto-Intermarché 04:22:43

2 Mulubrhan Henok XDS Astana Team + 17

3 Gruel Thibaud Groupama-FDJ United + 17

4 Coquard Bryan Cofidis + 17

5 Ulissi Diego XDS Astana Team + 17

6 Tesfazion Natnael Movistar Team + 17

7 Jeannière Emilien Team TotalEnergies + 17

8 Lemmen Bart Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 17

9 Nerurkar Lukas EF Education-EasyPost + 17

10 Adrià Roger Movistar Team + 17