Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway won the fifth and penultimate stage of the Tour of Oman in Muscat on Saturday.
The Dimension Data rider edged Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet and Marco Canola of Italy in a sprint finish to the 119.5km run from Sifah to the Tourism Ministry building.
“My goal is to be in good form for the classics,” said the 28-year-old stage winner.
“I was feeling pretty good already in Qatar and I’ve taken two stages here now so I’m pretty happy with that. I feel sorry for Jacques (Janse Van Rensburg, his teammate) because he was so close to winning, but I feel happy for myself.”
It was Van Avermaet’s fifth finish inside the top five during the Tours of Qatar and Oman, but the Belgian is yet to experience a win.
“Boasson Hagen’s in a great form, and he showed that by staying with the leaders for so long on Green Mountain on Saturday,” Van Avermaet said.
“But I’m very happy with my condition. It would have been better to get a win, but I’m up there the whole time.”
Astana team leader Vincenzo Nibali of Italy retained the overall leader’s red jersey, 15 seconds ahead of Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and 24 seconds better than teammate Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark.
“We were able to block any attacks, we were very careful,” observed former Tour de France champion Nibali.
Sunday’s final stage starts at The Wave Muscat and ends on the Matrah Corniche after a run of 130.5kms.
