Tour of Oman - Muscat Classic 2024 , February 9-14

[Samamba]

This Huub Artz guy rides a ridiculously strong race

 

[Berniece]

Absolute weird stuff from UAE.

How so?

 

[search]

Hirt needs to drop Yates to take the GC, btw. He is 4s behind, but would lose on countback if gets on s.t. with the bonus

 

[Samamba]

How so?

Yates working for FFB when Yates should obviously be the clear leader here.

 

[Berniece]

Yates working for FFB when Yates should obviously be the clear leader here.

As long as FFB is able to follow Yates works for him. Once Hirt attacked, Yates was free to do what he wanted. And now he won the stage and the GC (I think)

 

[Samamba]

As long as FFB is able to follow Yates works for him. Once Hirt attacked, Yates was free to do what he wanted. And now he won the stage and the GC (I think)

Absolutely no reason for him to work. He could've also just attacked and put on a show instead of this. Pretty obvious that he was gonna be the best here.

 

[search]

As long as FFB is able to follow Yates works for him. Once Hirt attacked, Yates was free to do what he wanted. And now he won the stage and the GC (I think)

yeah, FFB finished 44s down

Cycling live results

cycling.matsport.com

 

[ingsve]

Kulset 9th, so he did manage a top 10. Should be similar to that in GC as well.

 

[search]

Kulset 9th, so he did manage a top 10. Should be similar to that in GC as well.

8th in GC, yeah, as Artz was 4 minutes behind in GC before the stage. Good ride by him indeed, though, to hang on for 3rd from the breakaway.

 

[Berniece]

Absolutely no reason for him to work. He could've also just attacked and put on a show instead of this. Pretty obvious that he was gonna be the best here.

Sure but FFB was the leader, and you don't want to automatically make the assumption that he isn't able to hold on. I would think they discussed this beforehand, and for team dynamics it was best to do it like this, IF FFB thought he had a chance.

 

[Roku]

Good ride by Kulset and also by Faure-Prost. They will both turn 20 in April and are already in the Top10 of a (lesser) .Pro stage race.

Also great ride by Hirt. Hope to see him at the Giro again this year.

 

[Faserr]

Easy for Yates.
Bora really bad, but Herzog 21 . He could get really strong in the classics. He isn't a climber , but was still really good up this climb.

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Easy for Yates.
Bora really bad, but Herzog 21 . He could get really strong in the classics. He isn't a climber , but was still really good up this climb.

He was super strong in the Muscat Classic and today was a positive surprise , maybe he can do already something strong in OHN and Kuurne.

 

[Lequack]

Great for Adam Yates, I guess he was just waiting for his moment today. Looking good for the UAE Tour in a few days time.

 

[yaco]

Hirt made a tactical mistake in the final. It was obvious that Yates was soft pedalling for FFB, so Hirt needed to be patient and attack in the last kilometre. He attacks too early and Yates sits on his wheel.

 

[Roku]

Hirt made a tactical mistake in the final. It was obvious that Yates was soft pedalling for FFB, so Hirt needed to be patient and attack in the last kilometre. He attacks too early and Yates sits on his wheel.

I don't think Jan manages to drop Yates, anyway. Fisher Black has a good kick so he couldn't wait for the end and also needed to take some time on him. Hirt also is more of a diesel as well.

2nd was best possible outcome for Hirt today.

 

[search]

I'd think so too, and by going early, Hirt secured 2nd in GC as well at least.

Charmig had a mechanical on the final climb btw, so that probably explains his poor result. Normally he is quite good in those early season races.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Tactical absurdity once again masked by having by far the strongest riders, the UAE way!

Jan Hirt looking very promising after a poor 2023, something seems to have changed at Quickstep.

 

[Faserr]

That´s in fact a well known feature of these middle eastern races. Thomas De Gendt (iirc) once claimed in an interview that his average power output in one of those races (Qatar or UAE) was less than 150W for most stages. Sometimes they indeed leave these races with a worse shape than they start them with. Strolling 150km on a panflat road in the middle of the peloton doesn´t improve your shape.

Emil Herzog did 215km today. 140km after the race.

 

[Didinho]

A small bunch went to the hotel after the shortened stage. They rode longer (120km) and faster (50kph) after the stage. Some Lotto, Quickstep and DSM guys it seems.

Trying not to loose fitness like some riders indicated in previous years.

 

[saunaking]

That´s in fact a well known feature of these middle eastern races. Thomas De Gendt (iirc) once claimed in an interview that his average power output in one of those races (Qatar or UAE) was less than 150W for most stages. Sometimes they indeed leave these races with a worse shape than they start them with. Strolling 150km on a panflat road in the middle of the peloton doesn´t improve your shape.

The Tour of Zone 2

 

[Lequack]

Stage 5 recap

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx0pd53Aq5g

 

[KZD]

Yates is always so strong in these Middle Eastern stage races.

According to Lanterne Rouge, he did 6.5 w/kg on the climb so he could have got close to 7 w/kg if he had gone all in.