Bob Jungels confirmed that Etixx-QuickStep have made a coup by signing the talented Luxembourger when he claimed his first win in his new colours on the first stage of the Tour of Oman. Having made it into a 16-rider front group on the final climb, he attacked with 2km to go and managed to hold off lone chaser Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) and Romain Bardet (Ag2r) to take both the stage victory and the overall lead.

Less than two weeks ago, Bob Jungels was left hugely frustrated on the third stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The Luxembourger had made a brave move in the finale of what looked like a sprint stage and looked like he was going to take the win until he missed a turn and lost all his chances.

The frustrating experience made him even hungrier for success as he continues his first season with his new Etixx-QuickStep team and the disappointment has not made him change his strategy. Today he made a similar in the hilly first stage of the Tour of Oman and this time there were no mistakes as he rode to an impressive solo win.

The stage was mostly flat but included two tough climbs inside the final 30km, most notably the short, steep Al Jissah with just 4.5km to go. After an early break had been caught and several solo moves had been neutralized, everything was back together for the final climb.

As soon as they hit the climb, BMC set a furious pace that made the peloton explode to pieces. Surprisingly, their own overall contender Richie Porte was one of the many riders to lose contact as were Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).

Daniel Oss (BMC) led the peloton to the top of the climb, with Sven Erik Bystrøm (Katusha) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) just behind. The Italian swung off and left just 17 riders in the front group as they went down the descent.

Jungels, Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), Serge Pauwels, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Jacques an Rensburg (Dimension Data), Romain Bardet, Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r), Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Davide Rebellin (CCC), Floris De Tier (Topsport Vlaanderen), Vincenzo Nibali, Fuglsang (Astana), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Argon 18), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Katusha) and Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) sped down towards Al Bustan while the rest of the peloton had been blown to pieces. Unfortunately, Sepulveda went down on the descent and suddenly found himself in the second group which lost 40 seconds.

There was no organization in the front group and as they hit flatter roads, the door was open for attacks. Jungels grabbed his chance with 2km to go when he took off in a solo move and as the chase failed to get organized, he passed the flamme rouge with a 7-second advantage.

Jungels went into TT mode and while Pauwels took off in lone pursuit, he managed to hold on to take his first win in Etixx-QuickStep colours. Pauwels crossed the line six seconds later while Bardet made a late move to take third and pick up four important bonus seconds. He was caught on the line by the peloton which was led to the finish by Boasson Hagen, 8 seconds behind Jungels.

With the win, Jungels also takes the first leader’s jersey and he goes into stage 2 with a 10-second advantage over Pauwels. He faces a big test though as the second day offers the first summit finish at the top of a 2.8km that averages 6.5% after what is mostly a flat day in the saddle.

A tricky finale

The 7th edition of the Tour of Oman kicked off with a short 145.5km stage that brought the riders from the Oman Exhibition Center to the well-known finish at Al Bustan. After a flat first part through the desert, the riders got to a tricky finale that included two climbs. First they tackled the Al Hamriyah climb (0.8, 9.8%) with 23km to go and then descended to the short, steep Al Jissah (1.4km, 9%) ascent whose summit was located just 4.5km from the line. From there, it was a fast descent and one kilometre of flat roads.

There was beautiful sunshine and no wind when 141 riders rolled out for their short neutral ride. There was no big stress and already after 3km of racing, Christoph Pfingsten (Bora-Argon 18) and Kenny Dehaes (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) had built an advantage of 15 seconds.

Five riders get clear

Berden De Vries (Roompot), Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Peter Koning (Drapac) managed to bridge the gap and as the peloton had a very relaxed start, they pushed the gap out to 4.50 after just 11km of racing. Six kilometres later, Astana took control of the peloton when it had gone out to 6 minutes and they started to slowly reel the break in.

The escapees were riding at a brisk pace and covered 44km during the first hour. They still had an advantage of 4.38 as they got to the 50km mark.

The chase gets organized

A bigger alliance was formed in the peloton as BMC, Dimension Data and Etixx-QuickStep started to work with the Astana riders and this had an effect on the gap. When De Vries beat Dehaes and Vanspeybrouck in the intermediate sprint, the gap had been reduced to just 3.18.

The situation stabilized a bit and after the second hour during which the escapees covered 43.5km, the gap was still 3.20. However, as they entered the final 50km, the chase got serious and it was down to just 2.50.

The break is caught

As the escapees approached Muscat, they were riding into a headwind and this made things harder. At the same time, the peloton started to fight for position for the first climb and as a consequence, the advantage was reduced to just 1.28 with 28km to go.

As they approached the climb, Koning was the first to get dropped from the break and later Dehaes also had to surrender. De Vries, Vanspeybrouck and Pfingsten did their best to keep a 38-second advantage but they were brought back before they hit the climb.

Several solo moves

Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha) tried a solo move and managed to push out a gap of 10 seconds on the climb before he was brought back and it was Jacques van Rensburg (Dimension Data) who led Armaury Capiot (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Laurens De Plus (Etixx-QuickStep) over the top. Sebastien Turgot (Ag2r) was the next to try his hand but it was impossible to escape due to the furious pace as they approached the final climb.

Amaury Capiot (Topsport Vlaanderen) attacked and managed to win the final intermediate sprint ahead of Mario Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Katusha) who were working in the peloton. However, it was all back together by the time they hit the final climb and in the end it was Jungels who came out on top.