Theo Bos (Rabobank) won the third stage of the Tour of Oman, starting and finishing in Sur, on the eastern tip of the country. The Dutch former track star took his second victory on the race in a bunch sprint ahead of Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek), taking his second consecutive second place, with stage 2 winner and race leader Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) in third place.
"There was a really annoying wind,” said Boom after the stage, “so when someone you couldn’t stay very long on the front. Very quickly I only had Lars [Boom] and Graeme [Brown] close to me, but it was such a chaos that it was very much a matter every man for himself.
“700m from the line Graeme suddenly came around me,” he explained. “When I joined him with 300m to go riders were passing on our left. Graeme shut the door and then I started my sprint; maybe I went too early, but perhaps it is too late to wait until 150m to go.
“I could sustain [my sprint],” added the former World kilometre champion. “All the time I cold sense someone in my wheel, I think Bennati, but he couldn’t come past me. Now I feel very strong in the sprint; even after such a long and hard day like today. 210 kilometres in the heat is pretty tough.”
Although Bos is a former multiple track World champion he is relatively new to road racing and has yet to translate his track speed to the tarmac. He is also new to the elite Rabobank team, having spent last year with the Cervélo TestTeam.
"We are here partly to get to know each other in the finals of sprint stages,” Bos explained. “But the fact that it is already going so well surprises me a little. It is a bit better every day. We’re getting to know each other better and what the other person is going to do.
“Learning races here on the Arabian Peninsula and winning twice as well; it just couldn’t be better."
Almost immediately a five-man break escaped the peloton, consisting of: Marko Kump (Geox-TMC), Patrik Sinkewitz (Farnese Vini-Neri), Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing), Vitailiy Kondrut (Lapre-ISD), Kevin Claeys (An Post-Sean Kelly). The five riders were allowed to go by the peloton and by the time they reached Daffah after 48km their advantage had grown to 6’50”.
With too many sprinters team in the peloton though, there was no way that the quintet was going to succeed; Team Sky and HTC-Highroad both came forward, for Edvald Boasson Hagen and Goss respectively, and the gap began to slowly, but steadily, come down.
The break was allowed to stew out front of the peloton for a long time but with 20km to go, and Leopard Trek in control of the peloton, the gap had come down to just over a minute; despite their best efforts, the five riders were now surely doomed.
The break was eventually pulled back with just a few kilometres to go and Bos proved to be the strongest in the windy sprint. Bennati's second place moves him to within 2 seconds of race-leader Goss.
Result stage 3
1. Theo Bos (Ned) Rabobank
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek
3. Matt Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
4. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky
5. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Cervélo
6. Oscar Gatto (Ita) Farnese Vini-Neri
7. Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha
8. Nico Eeckhout (Bel) An Post-Sean Kelly Team
9. Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad
10. Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Quick Step
Standings after stage 3
1. Matt Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
2. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Leopard Trek @ 2s
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky @ 10s
4. Pieter Serry (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator @ 11s
5. Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Farnese Vini-Neri