Nibali, El Purito, Valverde and Pinot to face off at Tour of Oman

The gun for the sixth Tour of Oman fires on Tuesday, one of two races next week that feature Grand Tour favourites crossing swords early in the season. Tour de France title holder Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Astana), Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha), Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) and Thibault Pinot (France/FDJ) are among the favourites in Oman as Chris Froome, champion of the last two editions, has opted to face off with Alberto Contador in Spain at the Ruta del Sol.

Though not as flat and windy as the recent Tour of Qatar, most of the six stages of the Tour of Oman favour sprinters. In the last three editions of the race Andre Greipel won five stages, Peter Sagan four, Marcel Kittel three, and Alexander Kristoff and Nacer Bouhanni took single stage victories.

However, it’s the stage that ends with the climb of Green Mountain that determines the winner. Froome was first over the top in his two triumphs and Robert Gesink built the foundation of one of the the biggest win of his career on Green Mountain in 2011. There are opportunities to gain time on climbs near the end of Stages 2 and 5 as well.

There are some hot sprinters ready to lock horns in Oman, with three-stage winner at the Tour of Qatar Kristoff (Norway/Katusha), Qatar winner Niki Terpstra (The Netherlands/Etixx-QuickStep), and Matteo Pelucchi (Italy/IAM) on the start line. Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff-Saxo) will be hunting for his fifth stage victory and Bouhanni (France) will be looking for his first win in Cofidis colours.

Nibali is heading to his fourth consecutive Tour of Oman and has aspirations to win in the sultanate on his way to the Tour de France. The Italian was first up Green Mountain in 2012 but it was Peter Velits (Slovakia/BMC) who took the title. Velits’s American teammate Tejay van Garderen was last year’s runner-up. BMC’s new Italian buccaneer Alessandro De Marchi had a quiet Tour of Qatar, but his presence gives the U.S.-based squad a lot of weapons.

Another contender is Leopold König, the Czech rider who joined Sky from NetApp-Endura (now Bora-Argon 18). König was seventh in the Tour de France last season and was third in the two races of the Mallorca Challenge series he contested in January. He’s the protected rider for Sky in the sultanate, and will be a reliable Plan B and climbing lieutenant for Chris Froome and Richie Porte this season.

Dominique Rollin will be the sole Canadian in the race. Recently at the Tour of Qatar he was 37th, the best placed of his Cofidis team. Rollin’s next stage race will be Paris-Nice, The Race to the Sun, in early March.

The Tour of Oman rolls from February 17 to 22.