12th February – Stage 5: Imty – Jabal Al Akhdhar
The closing stage at the Tour of Oman saw a final GC showdown up Jabal Al Akhdar, otherwise known as Green Mountain. From the flag drop it was a fast race with Team Pincic PostNL looking to infiltrate the move of the day alongside several other teams. After multiple attacks the elastic eventually snapped and a group of 18 pushed on, with Pavel Bittner and Sean Flynn riding well to make the move for the team. The break worked well together and extended their gap to two minutes but the peloton didn’t want to let them get too far ahead, which resulted in a fast pace all throughout the stage. Coming onto Green Mountain, the gap was within touching distance and Bittner then Flynn were eventually reeled in. The team positioned and supported Kevin Vermaerke onto the ascent, where the young American dug deep after his crash on his stage two, fighting to the finish and ultimately ending the race just outside the top 15 on GC.
After the stage Flynn said: “The plan for today was to put some pressure on the GC teams by trying to create a strong breakaway and having a harder race towards the finish on Green Mountain. Me and Pavel made it into a good group of about 20 riders so we pushed hard and kept the pace high. The plan worked and the race was harder overall but then in the end it just came down to legs on the hard climb to the line. I felt quite good so was happy to get a hard hit out on the last day of this race to set me up well for the races to come.”
