Australian takes race lead as Theo Bos caugh behind a split
Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) continued his winning start to the 2011 season with victory in the second stage of the Tour of Oman between The Wave, Muscat and Al Wutayya. The Australian was the fastest at the head of a broken peloton, outsprinting Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) into second place, and Edvald Boasson Hagen into third.
“The last kilometre was quite tough there, slightly uphill and a little bit harder than I was expecting,” said Goss after the stage, “but I managed to hold on fine, it suited me well, having to accelerate out of the last corner. I tried to stay on the first five or ten wheels on the climb close to the finish today, it split about half-way up, and it split again over the top, but then it all came back together a little bit.
“We had five guys in the front group, they looked after me til the last kilometre, then [Hayden] Roulston did a turn on the front to keep the speed high and I sat in a little way further behind and waited for my moment.
“It’s great for the team, we came here wanting to get at least a stage win, now we can concentrate on seeing what we can do for the overall.”
The short 139km stage, just like the day before, was dominated by a long breakaway, which was pulled back close to the finish.
Mark Cassidy (An Post-Sean Kelly) escaped the peloton almost immediately and was joined by Danielle Ratto (Geox-TMC), Ronan Van Zandbeek (Skil-Shimano), Dmytro Kryvtsov (Lampre-ISD) and Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator). Between them the five riders quickly built their advantage; by the 31km point the quintet led by 3’10” as the Rabobank team of stage 1 winner Theo Bos led the peloton and allowed it to go.
At the stage’s mid-point a short, steep climb, which was unclassified but featured an intermediate sprint at the top, caused the group to break up. Gatto and Cassidy crossed in the lead, 17 seconds ahead of Kryvstov. The five riders regrouped on the descent though, but they were now being reeled in by the peloton.
The peloton was also breaking up on the climb; the front half of which was bearing down on the five leaders, eventually catching them with just under 50km to go. Absent from the front of the race was stage 1 winner and race leader Theo Bos (Rabobank) as well as a number of sprinters, including Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad), Roger Kluge (Skil-Shimano) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step).
With the front half of the peloton working hard, the advantage over the dropped half increased. There was a brief escape attempt made by Patrik Sinkewitz (Farnese Vini-Neri) and Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD) after 100km but, aside from taking a few bonus seconds at the stage’s second sprint, their attempt came to nothing.
In the closing kilometres Sinkewitz got away once more, this time with Andriy Grivko (Astana); with 3km to go they led by 10 seconds, but were swept up by the 70-strong chasing pack before they could reach the finish line.
Goss continued to show the impressive early season form, that saw him win the Cancer Council Classic and the first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under, edging out Bennati with Boasson Hagen a length behind.
The rest of the peloton, which included Bos, drifted over the line 10’34” in arrears.
With yesterday’s top three all finishing in the second peloton today’s stage result is reflected in the overall standings, with Goss taking the leader’s red jersey ahead of Bennati and Boasson Hagen.
Result stage 2
1. Matt Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky
4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
5. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre-ISD
6. Oscar Gatto (Ita) Farnese Vini-Neri
7. Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha
8. Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank
9. Simon Clarke (Aus) Astana
10. Grega Bole (Slo) Lampre-ISD
Standings after stage 2
1. Matt Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek @ 4s
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky @ 6s
4. Pieter Serry (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator @ 7s
5. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana @ 9s