The Tour of Oman kicked off today with a thrilling classics-like opener won by Bob Jungels, but a future of the race is to be decided within next few days. Race co-organizer, Eddy Merckx is optimistic about reaching a new agreement with the Omani government, but admits that last year's mistakes left their mark on the relationship with the municipality.

The race co-organized by Meckx, Dirk De Pauw and ASO is the biggest sporting event held in Oman, and all the same the greatest opportunity to show a beauty of the country and promote it as another attractive touristic site at the middle east.

According to Times of Oman the Tour of Oman costs the municipality 5.2 million dollars. While it's impossible to disagree that a cycling event with TV broadcast is a fantastic way to promote a region, in this particular case – without live coverage of the race – marketing effects might be questionable.

Nonetheless it remains Merckx' major argument while negotiating with Omani government, but representatives of the municipality insist that their final answer will be depended on a success of the 2016 edition.

“Everything depends on the municipality,” Merckx said at a press conference Monday. “We have time enough in these six days to decide. It’s possible, but it’s up to the municipality. We are positive because cycling is the only sport that shows off the country. For tourism, it’s important that there is a race in Oman being aired on TV to 190 countries.”

“The government will decide after this edition of the race and it all depends on the success of the tour,” said Salim bin Mubarak Al Hassani, chairman of Oman’s Sports Activities Committee, in a press conference in Muscat on Monday afternoon. “There will be an announcement after this race.”

With a stars like Vincenzo Nibali, Richie Porte, Alexander Kristoff, Romain Bardet or Tom Dumoulin among others the line-up of this year's Tour of Oman edition cannot be called weak, but it's definitely not as stellar as in last few seasons. Commenting on it, the race co-organizer pointed out to commitments some of the WorldTour teams had in their home countries.

Asked about Chris Froome's absence, Merckx suggested that an opportunity to gain good publicity by winning races without facing stiff competition could affect his decision.

“What can I say? He rode a small race at the Sun Tour with only three WorldTour teams at the start.”

“He wanted to start off with a race at a small level. The Sun Tour made a lot of publicity but there were only three WorldTour teams there.”

Merckx also admitted that many mistakes have been made during last year's edition of the race, especially in regards to the neutralised 5th stage and a choice of a race hotel.

“It was a mistake of the organisation, absolutely,” Merckx said. “We should never have given the start with a neutralised descent, it was impossible. We did the same one year [as a rider] in the Tour of Italy and at the bottom we had to stop and change all the wheels. If we had gone straight to the finish line and started the stage from there, nothing would have happened.”