Cycling
Bos wins Tour of Oman opener
2011-02-15 18:33
Al Seeb - Rabobank's Theo Bos saw off Britain's Mark Cavendish and German Roger Kluge to win the first stage of the Tour of Oman here on Tuesday.
Dutchman Bos, a former world track cycling champion in the sprint and keirin, came off the wheel of Australian lead-out man Graeme Brown to beat Cavendish by half a wheel at the finish line and thus claim his first win of 2011.
"It's great," said Bos, whose older brother Jan was a speed skater who won Olympic silver in 1998 and 2002.
"The best sprinters in the world are here, and it's me who's won. It's fantastic."
Cavendish, a 15-time stage winner on the Tour de France and considered the world's fastest man on two wheels, claimed he had fallen victim to some sign-post confusion in the lead-up to the bunch sprint.
"I didn't see the sign indicating three kilometres to go, and when I saw we had two kilometres left I was quite far back in the peloton," claimed Cavendish.
"When I started the sprint I was way behind the leaders.
"I was feeling good today. But it just goes to show that even when you've got great legs they won't count for anything if you're badly positioned going into the home straight."
A three-man breakaway lit up the race in the early stages but Belgian Pieter Serry, Estonian Kagel Tangert and Britain's Mark McNally were reeled in 10km from the finish line.
Wednesday's second stage is another sprinter-friendly ride over 139.5km from The Wave Muscat to Al Wutayya.
Read News24’s Comments Policy
Breaking News
-
-
Cycling
17:35
-
Cycling
15:07
-
Cycling
13:58
-
-
Cycling
12:37
-
Cycling
20:50
-
Cycling
20:35