Tour of Oman kicks off , routes unveiled

Muscat: Tour of Oman organisers recently unveiled the routes for the annual 2.HC race’s ninth edition, which will be divided into six stages and will take competitors on a journey through the heart of the Sultanate.
Set to kick off in wilayat of Nizwa on February 13, the six-day event will see 87 riders, representing some of the world’s most prestigious cycling teams, compete for prize money worth OMR56,000, including OMR5,000 for the overall winner.
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A total of 18 teams have been confirmed for this year’s race, including nine UTI World Tour teams. The longlist of elite men’s teams that will be competing in Oman features last year’s champions BMC Racing, Astana Pro, Bahrain-Merida, Team Dimension Data, Quick-Step Floors, Katusha-Alpecin, Team Sunweb, UAE Team Emirates, and Trek-Segafredo.
This year’s event will also see the return of the 2016 Tour of Oman overall winner Vincenzo Nibali, who will join a star-studded line-up that includes Vuelta a Espana champion Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team), last year’s Tour of Oman runner-up Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), and Eritrean sensation Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), among many others.
Stage 1 will start in Nizwa Souq and conclude at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), with Stage 2 heading from SQU to Al Bustan. Cyclists will then battle it out from the German University of Technology to the Wadi Dayqah Dam for Stage 3, which is to be followed by Stage 4 in Yiti. Stage 5 will begin in wilayat Samail and end in Jebel Akhdar, before the event concludes with the Stage 6 race between Al Mouj Muscat and the Muttrah Corniche.
The Tour of Oman will see four different coloured jerseys presented each day.
Red for overall individual ranking i.e. fastest time, green for overall points ranking, and white for best young cyclist ranking only for riders born on or after January 1, 1987.