One of the most anticipated events for Oman’s sporting enthusiasts in general and cyclists in particular, Tour of Oman 2019, will commence today.
The annual affair which keeps getting bigger and better every year will see a total of 18 teams comprising seven riders each participating in the challenging six stages.
Defending champion Alexey Kutsenko of Team Astana from Kazakhstan will be in the fray looking to retain his crown and will be the biggest star attraction. The 2016 Rio Olympics individual road race champion Greg van Avermaet will be the other point of focus and will provide a stiff challenge to Kutsenko.
The novelty in this year’s edition will be the inclusion of the Suhar Corniche for the first time wherein the first stage consisting of a distance of 138.5 km will begin at Al Sawadi Beach and conclude at Suhar Corniche.
“This year’s edition of Tour of Oman will be bigger and better than the last edition for sure. I have a good team working and we have the winner from last year (Kutsenko) and some cyclists from the Tour de France. Overall, it will be a very good event. For the first time, the race will go to Suhar Corniche and that will be exciting as well,’’ Salim bin Mubarak al Hasani, head of the committee, Tour of Oman 2019, said.
A total prize money of 101,380 euros including 11,000 euros for the overall winner will be up for grabs.
The overall winner will be the winner of the Red jersey for the general individual time classification while the points competition winner will take the Green jersey.
The winner of the best young rider classification will take the White jersey while the most aggressive rider will claim the Gold jersey. The second stage will be from Royal Cavalry Oman to Al Bustan with a distance covering 156.5 km.
In the third stage, the peloton will move over the hilly terrain from Shatti al Qurum to Qurayat over a distance of 192.5 km. The fourth stage will take the flat route from Yiti (Al Sifah) to Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre that covers a distance of 131 km.
The fifth stage, undoubtedly the toughest and the most challenging, will be the mountain climb to the summit from Samayil to Jabal al Akhdar over a distance of 152 km.
The race will finally wind down to the sixth and last stage from Al Mouj Muscat to Muttrah Corniche. The six stages will cover a total distance of 906 km and will also include two bonus sprints from stages 1 to 6.
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