Jimmy Casper became the first stage winner ever in the Tour of Oman. The Frenchman who races for the Saur-Sojasun team beat world class sprinters in the 61km opening criterium in Muscat Corniche. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Kenny Dehaes (Omega Pharma), Tyler Ferrar (Garmin) and Francesco Chicci (Liquigas) were unable to stop Casper, who also took over the leader’s red jersey.
Casper also received the green points classification jersey. Boasson Hagen is the best young rider and wears white in stage two.
There were 126 riders on the start line for the first Tour of Oman. The opening criterium (16 laps of four kilometers) was held in the evening, making for a great atmosphere among the many spectators.
A break of six dominated the first part of the race, with Wilfried Cretskens (Omega Pharma), Joaquin Novoa Menedez (Cervélo TestTeam), Cédric Coutouly (Saur-Sojasun), Martin Reimer (Cervélo TestTeam), Peter Wrolich (Milram) and Alessandro Ballan (BMC).
Ballan took the first intermediate sprint, ahead of Wrolich and Reimer, with the peloton 40 seconds behind. After this break was caught in lap nine, Marco Pinotti (HTC-Columbia), Robert Hunter (Garmin), Nikita Eskov (Katusha) and Lieuwe Westra (Vcansoleil) took off.
They made it to the second sprint, which Pinotti won, 20 seconds ahead of the bunch. With two laps to go, the break was caught and the sprinters got ready.