Tour of Oman 2018, Coquard returns to victory

Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) wins stage 1 on Tour of Oman 2018. By winning the Nizwa – Sultan Qaboos University (162,5 km) stage, the twentyfive-years-old sprinter gets a confidence booster and takes his personal and Vital Concept’s first success in this season. The Frenchman takes the sprint over Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo), his fellow countryman Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and German Maximilan Walschleid (Sunweb). Clearly Bryan Coquard is also the first leader of Tour of Oman 2018 general classification.

The peloton even have time to start that Maxime Farazijn (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise), Pierre Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Samsic), Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) and Brian Van Goethem (Roomport – Nederlandse Loterij) have a go and open an advantage over the group which let them lead the race. By the course, Perichon is the one who has built up more time bonuses. The Frenchman in facts gets six seconds whereas the rest of the breakaway take two seconds.

With just 11 kilometers to go the group reels in the leaders and the sprinters’ trains start to fight for the best positions for the respective captains. Quick Step Floors approaches the last hundred meters of the stage in the head of the bunch in order to lead Fabio jakobsen but the Dutch loses contact and on the finish line Coquard takes the spoils. The French wins again nine months after his last success at 2017 Tour of Belgium.

Tour of Oman 2018 first stage classification

1 COQUARD Bryan Vital Concept Cycling Club 3:58:41
2 CAVENDISH Mark Dimension Data
3 NIZZOLO Giacomo Trek – Segafredo
4 BOUHANNI Nacer Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
5 WALSCHEID Max Team Sunweb
6 BLYTHE Adam Aqua Blue Sport
7 KRISTOFF Alexander UAE-Team Emirates
8 WELTEN Bram Fortuneo – Samsic
9 CORT NIELSEN Magnus Astana Pro Team
10 VALLÉE Boris Wanty – Groupe Gobert

Tour of Oman 2018 general classification

1 COQUARD Bryan Vital Concept Cycling Club                      3:58:31
2 CAVENDISH Mark Dimension Data                                      0:04
3 PERICHON Pierre-Luc Fortuneo – Samsic                            ,,
4 NIZZOLO Giacomo Trek – Segafredo                                     0:06
5 FARAZIJN Maxime Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise                  0:08
6 VAN GOETHEM Brian Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij    ,,
7 DUNNE Conor Aqua Blue Sport                                              ,,
8 BOUHANNI Nacer Cofidis, Solutions Crédits                      0:10
9 WALSCHEID Max Team Sunweb                                           ,,
10 BLYTHE Adam Aqua Blue Sport                                           ,,