Third stage full of emotions at the Tour of Oman, Christian Scaroni narrowly missed success at the top of Eastern Mountain, surrendering only to Mauro Schmid. The Swiss champion, who won the Muscat Classic a few days ago, confirms his excellent form and becomes the new overall leader. The final meters of the climb were decisive, where we witnessed a head-to-head battle between Scaroni and Schmid.

THE RACE. Third day of racing for the Tour of Oman and the second mountain finish of this edition. The stage started from Samail "Al Fayahh Resthouse" and then reached the final climb of Eastern Mountain (3.4 km at 8%). During the 191 km race, there were no particular difficulties, the usual Omani up and down allowed the group to keep the situation under control.

The initial kilometers of the race were characterized by a series of attacks that led about thirty athletes to escape from the group. The breakaway of the day was officially formed at kilometer 15 and included the overall leader Baptiste Veistroffer. Besides the Belgian athlete from Lotto Intermarchè, six other riders were part of the breakaway: Rui Olivera (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Quentin Pacher (Groupama FDJ), Jensen Plowright (Alpecin Premier Tech), Alex Baudin (EF Education), Jonas Hem Hvideberg (Uno X) and Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Team Cofidis). The breakaway riders managed to gain a maximum of 3'30" over the group, which was controlled for many kilometers by Soudal QuickStep and XDS Astana.

About 7 km from the finish, near a roundabout, the group split, with many athletes falling, including several classification riders like Adam Yates and Valentin Paret Peintre. Both promptly restarted, but the peloton was now split in two.

The breakaway riders were caught 3 km from the finish, and in the first part of the group, a long control phase began, lasting until the last kilometer when Nairo Quintana tried to attack. The Jayco Alula team brought back the small group, positioning their captain Mauro Schmid in the best possible position, with Christian Scaroni marking him closely. The rider from Brescia tried to hold his ground against the Swiss champion but had to settle for second place. An excellent performance also by Diego Ulissi, who finished tenth at the finish line.

Tomorrow at the Tour of Oman, the Al Sawadi Beach - Sohar stage is scheduled, dedicated to the fast wheels, giving the classification riders an opportunity to catch their breath before the final day with the Green Mountain climb.

FINISH ORDER

1 Schmid Mauro Team Jayco-AlUla 04:13:17

2 Scaroni Christian XDS Astana Team + 00

3 Tjøtta Martin Uno-X Mobility + 03

4 Berwick Sebastian Caja Rural-Seguros RGA + 03

5 Bonnet Thomas Team TotalEnergies + 07

6 Pescador Diego Movistar Team + 07

7 Rodriguez Cristian XDS Astana Team + 11

8 Harper Chris Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team + 11

9 Double Paul Team Jayco-AlUla + 15

10 Ulissi Diego XDS Astana Team + 18

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1 Schmid Mauro Team Jayco-AlUla 13:01:01

2 Scaroni Christian XDS Astana Team + 04

3 Tjøtta Martin Uno-X Mobility + 09

4 Berwick Sebastian Caja Rural-Seguros RGA + 13

5 Pescador Diego Movistar Team + 17

6 Harper Chris Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team + 21

7 Rodriguez Cristian XDS Astana Team + 21

8 Double Paul Team Jayco-AlUla + 25

9 Ulissi Diego XDS Astana Team + 28

10 Quintana Nairo Movistar Team + 30