(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The stage is set for Tour of Oman 2015 from February 17 to 22. This year the challenge gets bigger for the 18 top international teams that will be participating. At 988.5km the route is the longest ever in the tour's history.
Tour of Oman began in 2010 with a 687.1km race followed by 838km in 2011 875km in 2012 938.5km in 2013 and 915.5km in 2014. In its sixth year Tour of Oman has become an event not to be missed by big hitters of the cycling world.
And it's not a coincidence that winners of the last three editions - Bradley Wiggins (2012) Christopher Froome (2014) and Vincenzo Nibali (2014) - all arrived in Muscat several months after their summer triumph on the Grande Boucle.
The Tour of Oman already has its place among the stage races that count mainly due to the sultanate's landscape and variety of its terrains - flat stages along the coast and undulating routes that challenge. This year's race does not include a time trial as last year but the race to watch and where potential winners will set the agenda will be the 189km Stage 4 race from Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque to Jebel Akhdar.
"It is especially the climb up the Jebel Akhdar that weeds out the serious pretenders for the Tour of Oman title with its 5.7km at a gradient of five per cent. It is a mountain that has only been tamed by great climbers since it made its bow in 2011: Robert Gesink (in 2011) Vincenzo Nibali (2012) Joachim Rodriguez (2013) and Christopher Froome (2014)" said organisers of the race in a statement.
The names to look out for in the race and the climb up to Jebel Akhdar include Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who will have to deal with fierce competition led in particular by Spain's Joachim Rodriguez (Katusha) his countryman Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) the best climber on the last Tour de France.
The other talents to watch will be the young French cyclists Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) third on the last Tour de France and Warren Barguil (Giant Alpecin) a two-time stage winner (2013) and ninth in the general classification at the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain 2014).
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