Wout Poels and Leopold König lose time on stage two of the Tour of Oman

Wout Poels and Leopold König both lose ground after day two of the Tour of Oman reached a fiery conclusion.

Wout Poels and Leopold König both lost ground as the second stage of the Tour of Oman reached a fiery conclusion.

Two short, sharp climbs in the last 25km had always looked likely to cause splits in the peloton, and so it proved with only 18 riders emerging to contest the stage victory.

Neither Poels nor König were among those ranks, with Christian Knees leading Poels home in a second select group 46 seconds later, and Philip Deignan supporting König to the line a further 26 seconds adrift.

It was Fabian Cancellara who emerged triumphant, with the Trek Factory Racing rider pipping Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) in a massively-reduced sprint finish.

That result saw Cancellara take control of the leader’s jersey, and bonus seconds ensured he opened up a four-second advantage over Valverde at the top of the overall standings.

Late flurry

The second day of action took the riders 195.5 km from Al Hazm Castle to Al Bustan and the inevitable break went clear after several early attempts.

Enrico Barbin (Bardiani Valvole) had been part of that four-man move, but a puncture forced him back into the peloton, leaving his three accomplices to have their day in the (very hot) sun.

It was only when their gap grew in excess of eight minutes that the peloton reacted behind, with Tinkoff-Saxo, Movistar and Katusha all pulling to bring the escapees back in check.

Movistar drove hard once again as they hit the first climb, and the break had been swept up by the time they powered up the second punchy ascent to Al Jissah. Then the attacks came thick and fast and only a handful of riders emerged from the carnage to contest the victory.

Portal reaction

After the stage, Sports Director Nicolas Portal admitted things had not run to plan but insists there is still plenty to fight for in the days to come.

He told TeamSky.com: “We’re a little bit disappointed with how things turned out today. It’s a shame for Leo and Wout, especially as the likes of Valverde, Arredondo and Majka were in that first group.

“Honestly, we didn’t hear much about what was going on in the team car and I’m only beginning to assess the race situation now.

“Certainly, there are more opportunities for Wout and Leo to climb back up the GC and gain a good position, and obviously there’s stage wins up for grabs, so we’ll keep fighting and see what happens.”