14 februari 2012  - 

Tour of Oman 2012

The third edition of the Tour of Oman kicked off on Tuesday February 14th with a 159km stage from Al Alam Royal Palace to Wadi Al Hoqay. The first stage of the race was marked by a breakaway attempt of four riders that were caught with 20km to go. The stage ended as expected in a mass sprint. German Andre Greipel clearly won the sprint besting Russian Denis Galimzyanov, American Tyler Farrar and Koen's German teammate Marcel Kittel to take his fourth win of the year.  Koen crossed the line in 23rd place in the peloton.

The second stage of the Tour of Oman took the peloton over a distance of 140.5km from Sur to Wadi Davgah Dam. A tough and technical final kilometre deprived the pure sprinters of a chance to dominate again but equally discouraged breakaway attempts. The final had an incline of 8% which leveled off during the final few hundred metres in addition to four turns making positioning in the peloton crucial to stay with the first group. It was the fast finishing young sprinter suited to tough finishes, Peter Sagan, that took the stage victory and the leader's jersey. Koen crossed the line in 55th place, in the company of teammate Albert Timmer, 46 seconds down on Sagan.

On the third stage of the Tour of Oman, Project 1t4i finally got their revenge. Marcel Kittel was able to finish off the teams work, of which Koen played a role, to perfection when he won the 144 km stage from Al Awabi to Bank Muscat. German Andre Greipel finished second while Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni came third, American Tyler Farrar fourth while the winner of stage two Peter Sagan came fifth. Koen crossed the line in 14th place in the company of teammate Roy Curvers who was 15th.

Photo: Marcel Kittel wins the third stage in Oman under the watchful eye of one of his teammates in the background the eye of one of his teammates (with thanks to ASO)

On Friday February 17th the fourth stage took the peloton 142km from Bidbid to Al Wadi al Kabir. As the route contained several short but tough climbs Koen's team did not see the route as one that would favour a repeat of Marcel Kittel's stage win of a day earlier. Despite the peloton breaking into several groups due to the climbs, several strong finishes managed to hang on or bridge up to the leading group to dispute the stage win. It was German Andre Greipel who won ahead of Peter Sagan. Koen sprinted to the front and took 12th place. Marcel Kittel crossed the line about four minutes after Greipel in a group containing several big sprinters including World Champion Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar.

Saturday's stage was the queen stage of the Tour of Oman starting from Royal Opera House and finishing 158km later in Jabal Al Akhdar with an uphill finish on Green Mountain. The stage was won by Italian Vincenzo Nibali. Koen crossed the line in 49th place at 6'13" from Nibali.
"Glad that this stage is over with," Koen said after the finish. "It was hot, there was a head wind and then the finishing climb."

The final stage was another success for Project 1t4i. Marcel Kittel showed himself to be the fastest, adding a second stage win on top of his stage 3 success. Peter Sagan came second and Tyler Farrar came third. Koen crossed the line in 57th place.

The overall classification was won by Slovakian Peter Velits. Koen finished the race in 39th place overall.