Team News: 1-2 for Astana

In the Tour of Oman on the final stage, Alexander Kristoff won the dash to the line whilst Astana finished with first and second on the overall

Team News: 1-2 for Astana

Tour of Oman. Alexey Lutsenko and Astana Team win final classification

Photo credit: ©Bettiniphoto

Astana Pro Team has dominated in this edition of the Tour of Oman: the Kazakh leader of the team Alexey Lutsenko won the final general classification, young rising star Miguel Angel Lopez took second podium place and won the white jersey of the best young rider, while the whole Astana won the overall team’s classification.

Alexey Lutsenko: “Now, after finish in Muscat I can say I am happy with my victory. It is so nice to win in your first race of the season! I did a lot of work this winter, it was my goal to be on form for the start of the season and, finally, I am here, at the podium as the winner. It was not a plan to try to win in Oman, but I felt really good the whole week here and also the team was absolutely fantastic! So, now I am coming back to Europe and already next weekend I will open my Classics season in Belgium. Despite this overall victory, the Classics are my biggest goal for the first half of the season, so I am really motivated to do it well”, – said after the finish Alexey Lutsenko.
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The final 6th stage of the Tour of Oman has been held between Al Mouj Muscat and Matrah Cornich. It was a fast 135,5 km race with two climbs and three laps in the city center of Muscat. Astana Team did this stage quite perfectly, keeping under control the race situation and protecting both leaders, Alexey Lutsenko and Miguel Angel Lopez.

In the final sprint Astana’s Magnus Cort, the winner of stage 4, finished fourth, just behind the Top-3 of the stage: Alexander Kristoff, the winner, Brian Coquard (2nd) and Giacomo Nizzolo (3rd).

As the stage ended with a bunch sprint, the general classification did not get any changes, so right after the finish Alexey Lutsenko was named as the final winner of the 2018 Tour of Oman!

Gorka Izagirre: “When Nathan Haas tried to attack on the last short ascent with 3 km to go – said Gorka Izagirre, third on the podium of the Tour of Oman 2018 – I went behind him. I wanted to avoid surprises and maybe lose my position in the overall”.

“The stage went the way we wanted – the Basque rider continues – and I have to thank my teammates for their help. It was important that my direct opponents did not gain seconds at the Bonus Sprints and so it went”.

“After the 7th place at the Tour Down Under in January, this podium means I’m working in the right direction. Next appointment will be the Paris-Nice together with my brother Ion “.
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Alexander Kristoff: “I’m very happy to have won my first victory with UAE Team Emirates,” said Kristoff, who is flying tonight from Oman to the UAE for the Abu Dhabi Tour.

“I feel so much faith from the team and I’ve always had strong men at my side in these first races of the season.
I enjoy this finish a lot. I won already here in 2016 and 2017, so I knew that today would be an optimum chance to succeed. In the meeting this morning, with the sports directors and team-mates, we were very detailed and studied well every move we’d make in the final. That way, we took on the final kilometres perfectly.”

“My team-mates worked impressively, I could not ask more of them. And for me, I had great legs, a spark in my legs, which let me take this beautiful sprint. To win is always great, but to do it with a new team, it’s even better. It’s easy to find success in this team given that everything prepared perfectly”.

“We’re looking forward to taking this victory back to the UAE and hope to use it a momentum going into the Abu Dhabi Tour. Hopefully it can inspire us to produce more fantastic results in front of our home fans“.
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Stage 6
1. Alexander Kristoff
2. Bryan Coquard
3. Giacomo Nizzolo
4. Magnus Cort
5. Nathan Haas
6. Davide Martinelli
7. Amaury Capiot
8. Greg van Avermaet
9. Ban DeClercq
10. Floris Gerts

35. Mark Christian
40. Mark Christian
48. Dan Pearson
57. Andy Fenn
58. Mark McNally

Overall
1. Alexey Lutsenko
2. Miguel Lopez
3. Gorka Izagirre
4. Nathan Haas

11. Dan Pearson
18. Mark Christian