Christian Scaroni puts the seal on the fifth and final stage of the 15th Tour of Oman, the Nizwa - Jabal Al Akhdhar (Green Mountain) of 155.9 km and conquers the final victory in the Omani race.

On the slopes of Green Mountain, Xds Astana and Jayco AlUla managed to isolate Adam Yates, UAE Emirates XRG team leader and race favorite, and brought him to the final sprint with depleted energy: Scaroni placed his decisive move, caught and overtook Luke Plapp who had attempted a solo breakaway, and deservedly won, preceding his teammate Cristian Rodriguez while Plapp finished third ahead of Yates.

Scaroni - our cover story for February - thus reaches three seasonal victories (having won the European opener at Camp de Morvedre) and in his career reaches 10 wins.

THE RACE. The queen stage was eagerly awaited by the entire group, especially for the extremely competitive general classification. For the last day of racing in Omani territory, the group pedaled from Nizwa to Jabal Al Akhdhar for 155.9 km, the route did not present major difficulties and everything was decided on the Green Mountain climb, 5.7 km long with an average gradient of 10.4%.

Despite the tough final climb, the group rode at high speed, approaching 50 km/h due to numerous attacks. The day's breakaway formed after several kilometers and involved 5 riders: Vincenzo Albanese (Ef Education), Johan Price Petersen (Soudal Quickstep) Florian Dauphin (Total Energies), Fredrik Dversnes Lavik and Jonas Hem Hvideberg (Uno X) reached a maximum advantage of 2'40".

On the first ramps of Green Mountain, the breakaway obviously exploded, with Dversnes and Dauphin being the last to surrender. The Norwegian was caught two and a half kilometers from the finish, joined by a group of climbers formed by Yates, Pescador, Scaroni, Cepeda, Paret Peintre, Lopez, Plapp, Double and Quintana.

FINISH ORDER

1. Scaroni Christian (XDS Astana Team) in 03:23:19
2. Rodriguez Cristian (XDS Astana Team) + 03
3. Plapp Luke (Team Jayco-AlUla) + 06
4. Yates Adam (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
5. Double Paul (Team Jayco-AlUla) + 13
6. Quintana Nairo (Movistar Team) + 16
7. Berwick Sebastian (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) + 26
8. Rouland Louis (Cofidis)
9. Lecerf Junior (Soudal Quick-Step) + 30
10. Pescador Diego (Movistar Team)

FINAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Scaroni Christian (XDS Astana Team) in 19:33:16
2. Rodriguez Cristian (XDS Astana Team) + 24
3. Yates Adam (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) + 44
4. Schmid Mauro (Team Jayco-AlUla) + 44
5. Double Paul (Team Jayco-AlUla) + 44
6. Berwick Sebastian (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) + 45
7. Quintana Nairo (Movistar Team) + 52
8. Pescador Diego (Movistar Team) + 53
9. Rouland Louis (Cofidis) + 01:07
10. Tjøtta Martin (Uno-X Mobility) + 01:08