Haas beats Van Avermaet for Tour of Oman lead

AL-Bustan - Australia's Katusha rider Nathan Haas clinched victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Oman on Wednesday, edging Belgian Greg Van Avermaet in the sprint after a challenging day of rolling terrain.

The win gave Haas top spot in the overall standings by four seconds thanks to the bonus seconds for the stage after Tuesday's flat mass finish won by Bryan Coquard.

Wednesday's 167.5km ride featured some dramatic rolling terrain that saw a breakaway and 16 riders finishing 38 seconds ahead of the main pack.

Thursday's third of six stages is designed for classics riders and should see another shake-up in the overall standings.

Stage 2 results:

1. Nathan Haas (AUS/Katusha) 4hr 22min 15sec, 2. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) same time, 3. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/Astana) s.t., 4. Dries Devenyns (BEL/Quick-Step) s.t., 5. Merawi Kudus Ghebremedhin (ERI/Dimension Data) s.t.

Overall standings:

1. Nathan Haas (AUS/Katusha) 8hr 20min 46sec, 2. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) at 4sec, 3. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/Astana) 6, 4. Merawi Kudus Ghebremedhin (ERI/Dimension Data) 10, 5. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/Bahrain-Merida) 10.