2017 Tour of Oman

2017 Tour of Oman
The 2017 Tour of Oman was a road cycling stage race that took place between 14 and 19 February 2017 in Oman. It was the eighth edition of the Tour of Oman and was rated as a 2.HC race as part of the 2017 UCI Asia Tour. The previous year's winner, Vincenzo Nibali, did not defend his title.
The race was won by Belgium's Ben Hermans, as part of the ; Hermans took the race lead after winning the second stage of the race, and further extended his lead with a victory in the queen stage of the race, finishing at Jabal Al Akhdhar. Hermans won the race by 22 seconds ahead of Portuguese rider Rui Costa, who finished second on two stages during the race. The podium was completed by 's Fabio Aru from Italy, who was a further 13 seconds in arrears of Costa.
Hermans duked it out for the points classification victory with Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff, with the honours ultimately going to Kristoff, who won three of the remaining four stages of the race. The young rider classification was won by Eritrea's Merhawi Kudus, who finished in fourth place overall for , while Belgian Aimé De Gendt won the combativity classification for points won at intermediate sprints and noted climbs. With Kudus, Lachlan Morton and Nathan Haas all finishing within the top ten overall, won the teams classification.
Teams
Eighteen teams were invited to take part in the race. These included nine UCI WorldTeams and nine UCI Professional Continental teams.
Route
The route for the race was announced on 27 January 2017.
Stages
Stage 1
14 February 2017 — Al Sawadi Beach to Naseem Park,
Stage 2
15 February 2017 — Nakhal to Al Bustan,
Stage 3
16 February 2017 — Sultan Qaboos University to Quriyat,
Stage 4
17 February 2017 — Yiti to Ministry of Tourism,
Stage 5
18 February 2017 — Samail to Jabal Al Akhdhar,
Stage 6
19 February 2017 — The Wave Muscat to Matrah Corniche,
Classification leadership table
There were five principal classifications in the 2017 Tour of Oman.
The first and most important was the general classification; the winner of this was considered the overall winner of the race. It was calculated by adding together each rider's times on each stage, then applying bonuses. Bonuses were awarded for coming in the top three on a stage (10 seconds for the winner, 6 seconds for the second placed rider and 4 seconds for the rider in third) or at intermediate sprints (3 seconds, 2 seconds and 1 second for the top three riders). The rider in the lead of the general classification wore a red jersey.
The second competition was the points classification, calculated by awarding points for the top 10 riders at the finish of each stage (15 points to the winner down to 1 point for the rider in tenth place) and to the top three at intermediate sprints (3 points, 2 points and 1 point). The rider with the highest points total was the leader of the classification and wore a green jersey. The young rider classification was open to those born on or after 1 January 1992. The young rider ranked highest in the general classification was the leader of the young rider classification and wore a white jersey.
The combativity classification was based on points won at intermediate sprints and classified climbs along the route. Points were awarded to the top three riders across each sprint or climb (3 points, 2 points and 1 point). The rider with the most accumulated points was the leader of the classification and wore a white jersey with red and green polka dots. The final competition was the team classification. On each stage, each team was awarded a time based on the cumulative time of its top three riders; the times for each stage were then added together and the team with the lowest total time was the leader of the team classification.
References
External links
Le Tour
2017
2017 in Omani sport
2017 UCI Asia Tour