Tour of Oman still on schedule, says race director

Muscat: Eddy Merckx, the race director of the Tour of Oman, has said that this year’s event will continue as planned.
Merckx allayed fears over the cancellation of the tour, after the 2017 Tour of Qatar and Ladies Tour of Qatar were scrapped due to lack of funds.
“The tour of Oman will be ridden, no doubt about it,” he said, in an interview with cyclingnews.com.
The Tour of Oman is scheduled to take place between the 16th and 21st of February. It contains six stages, and passes by several prominent landmarks in Oman, including Naseem Garden, the Muscat International Airport, Knowledge Oasis Muscat, the Ministry of Tourism and the Omantel Head Office.
While the race does take place mostly over flat terrain, the most challenging leg of the tour is expected to be on Day Four, which begins at Knowledge Oasis Muscat and ends at Jabal Akhdar.
18 teams featuring 136 riders are set to take part in this year’s edition of the Tour of Oman, which will be the 8th edition of the tournament since it began in 2010.
The inaugural edition of the Tour of Oman was won by Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara, who also won a gold medal for Switzerland at the Men’s Road Time Trial event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Last year’s tour was won by Italian cyclist Vincenzo Nibali, who’d won the Tour de France in 2014. He won the Red Jersey for the shortest amount of time taken to complete the Tour of Oman, when he finished all six stages in a combined time of 22 hours, 25 minutes and 25 seconds, 15 seconds ahead of second-placed Romain Bardet of France and 24 seconds in front of Dane Jakob Fulsgang.
The Green Jersey for maximum number of points accumulated during the tour went to Norwegian Edvald Hagen, while 24-year-old Australian cyclist Brendan Canty picked up the White Jersey, which is awarded to the best young rider.
For more information about this year’s Tour of Oman, please visit www.tourofoman.om