What We Learnt: Tour of Oman

I think it’s fair to say that this year’s Tour of Oman was the best edition yet of four year old race. Labelled by some as a ‘mini grand tour’, it certainly lived up to that in terms of excitement.

However, we also have to recognise that this is, at the end of the day, a warm up race for the bigger races to come in Europe, so to the same extent that the pros will have used it as preparation, us fans can also use the race to prepare ourselves for what we can expect to see in the coming months.

Confidence Boost For Froome

There is of course no reason to question Chris Froome’s ability as a grand tour contender with the strength to challenge Alberto Contador come July. However, seeing Contador ride off into the distance time and time again over the course of the Vuelta last year must have led Froome to doubt himself.

But it was a mature Froome who came to the Tour of Oman. Knowing that he would not be able to stick with Contador’s repeated accelerations, the Sky man held himself back and rode up to the Spaniard’s back wheel at his own pace. Meanwhile, his own attack in the final kilometre up to the summit finish on stage 4 was one of the best moves I have seen in a very long time. After being distanced by Contador and Nibali, Froome rode himself back up to the duo, before launching a devastating counter attack to which they had no answer.

This win will also be pleasing as it proves Froome’s ability as a leader. He seemed at ease having the whole team working for him alone, and was not scared to tell Richie Porte, who did sterling work as a super domestique, exactly what to do.

Peter Sagan Is Still Getting Better

If Peter Sagan doesn’t win a major classic in 2013, then something would have gone seriously wrong. His wins stages 2 and 3 were probably more impressive than any of his Tour de France stage wins last year.

The Slovakian was utterly dominant on both stages, simply riding away from his rivals with apparent ease. Given that both of these stages included challenging climbs, probably more similar to the Ardennes than Flanders, I really can’t see the 23 year old winning a major classic this year, perhaps Amstel Gold or maybe even the Tour of Flanders.

Another Young French Hopeful

In my preview to the Tour of Oman, I picked out Arnold Jeannesson as possible outsider for the race. However, it was his teammate and compatriot Kenny Elissonde who instead came to the fore. The 21 year old may only be 5 1/2 foot and weight a miniscule 52kg, but he was most definitely punching with the heavyweights on the stage to the Green Mountain, only being beaten by Rodriguez, Froome, Evans, Contador, and Nibali, and after riding up to this elite group a number of times on the climb. This performance led to Elissonde securing the white jersey for the best young rider.

Elissonde is certainly a name to watch. In 2011 he took the prestigious Ronde d’Isard ahead of the perhaps more well-known prodigies of George Bennett, Joe Dombrowski and Romain Sicard. With Jeanneson, Gallopin, and Bouhanni all having good races in Oman, the French certainly have plenty to be looking forward to over the next few years.

Breakthroughs for Stybar and Impey?

Two other riders which particularly caught my eye this week were Zdenek Stybar and Daryl Impey.

For fans of cyclocross there is of course no doubting the talent of Stybar. The two time cyclocross world champion has taken a little time to get used to the road, but showed signs of progress last year with a stage win and second in the overall in the Four Days of Dunkirk. I picked him out as having a good ride in the Tour of Qatar, but he was even more impressive here, taking excellent fifth places on stages 2 and 5, both of which featured testing climbs.

It was a similar story for Impey. After a fairly average few seasons hopping from Radioshack, to MTN, to Net App, and finally to Greenedge, the South African seems to have taken a step up this year. Ninth and fourth on stages 2 and 5, with a sixth place finish in the sprint on stage 6, highlighting his flexibility.

I will certainly be keeping a keen eye on both of these riders throughout the year, particularly when we hit the Ardennes in April