Tour of Oman: Andrea Guardini beats Tom Boonen to win stage one and take overall lead
Tuesday 17 February 2015 12:36, UK
Italy’s Andrea Guardini took the lead of the Tour of Oman by sprinting to victory on the opening stage.
The Astana rider beat Tom Boonen into second place and Matteo Pelucchi into third in Al Wutayyah.
With bonus seconds taken into account, Guardini now leads Boonen at the top of the general classification by four seconds. Patrick Konrad is five seconds adrift in third after joining the day’s breakaway and picking up five bonus seconds at intermediate sprints.
The only Briton in the race, Orica-GreenEdge’s Adam Blythe, finished 19th, while Ireland’s Sam Bennett was eighth.
Pre-race favourites Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez all finished in the main bunch.
Stage one result
1 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, 3:45:37
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step, same time
3 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling, st
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, st
5 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, st
6 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, st
7 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
8 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18, st
9 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
10 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr, st
General classification
1 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, 3:45:27
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step, +4secs
3 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Argon 18, +5
4 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling, +6
5 Johan van Zyl (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka, +7
6 Simone Andreeta (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, +9
7 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, st
8 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, st
9 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, st
10 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
