Place Name: طريق مسفاة العبريين
Address: طريق مسفاة العبريين, ولاية الحمراء, Ad Dakhiliyah Governorate, Oman
Details: February 9, 2026
It's GC day "light" today but there will likely be some time gaps when all is said and done. A long stage of 191KM starts at the Samail Al Fayhaa Resthouse and heads towards Eastern Mountain with the finish at the top. The majority of the day should be fairly relaxed. There is not much on the profile and there are just two intermediate sprints as points of interest. The real action will start on the lead in to Eastern Mountain before the climb starts in Al Hamra. David Gaudu was the winner last year but the time gaps were fairly tight and we can expect something similar this time around because the climb is not too long at just 3.5KM. The average is just under 8% but it goes up in steps with ramps then little pauses for rest before tipping back up to the line.
There have been a number of break aways stay clear so far this year including yesterday's stage to Yitti Hills as well as the final stage in Valencia so it has many believing in their own chances. Given that, the fight for the break was intense. A large group broke away after about 15KM with at least 25 riders. A group that large had more than a few passengers but they extended the gap to 1 minute and seemed to be gone. UAE-XRG started to ride in the peloton at a controlling pace and were not interested in bringing the group back right away.
Some members of the break weren't happy with the composition so attacks started to split up the group into more manageable numbers. EF-Education EasyPost were aggressive as were Groupama-FDJ United but none were more so than Baptiste Veistroffer of Lotto Intermarché, otherwise identified as "Mr. Attack" by the Omani commentators. With 168KM to go, a group of five formed with Veistroffer as well as Quentin Pacher of Groupama-FDJ United, Jonas Hem Hvideberg of Uno-X Mobility, Alex Baudin EF-Education EasyPost, and Rui Oliveira of UAE-XRG. Stanisław Aniołkowski of Cofidis and Jensen Plowright of Alpecin-Premier Tech jumped across and the collective will of the remaining chasers seemed to break. The gap grew meter by meter until the front group of seven had established a gap too large to bridge.
The race continued on impossibly long and impossibly straight roads through the desert between jagged ridges of rock. A town would appear in the distance, first spotted by the spire on top of the local Mosque. Just as quickly as they entered, they were out the other side, back into desolation. Throughout the day, the chase came from UAE-XRG who eventually gave way to XDS-Astana and Soudal Quickstep and with 100KM to go, the gap was holding steady at 3 minutes 30 seconds.
The bunch kept a close eye on the break and wound them in to 2 minute 15 seconds with 50KM to go. As Eastern Mountain approached, Visma-Lease a Bike and Jayco AlUla came forward and started to pull on the front of the peloton. The light frame of Pacher struggled on the wheels and the Frenchman was forced to drift backwards out of the break with around 45KM to go. 5KM later, the break formed a tighter rotation and were working but the gap the gap was reduced to 1 minute 40 seconds.
With 31KM to go, Veistroffer rolled through the intermediate sprint and about 1 minute later, Pinarello Q36.5 were driving the bunch through the same point. The peloton was across the road with 17KM to go as teams prepared for the finale. The movement forward increased the speed which brought the gap down to just 45 seconds. It was still 40 seconds with 7KM to go. Through a roundabout just under 7KM from the finish, a crash took down at least three Visma-Lease a Bike riders and held up nearly the entire the peloton. Tudor Pro Cycling, Uno-X Mobility, and Lotto Intermarché got through unscathed and were driving the bunch towards the base of Eastern Mountain in a group of less than 20 riders.
By the bottom of the climb, the lead group had 20 seconds on the peloton which had increased in size to 75 riders but there was no doubt that someone with GC ambitions was caught out. At the back of the peloton, last year's stage winner Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quickstep was forced to change his bike which eliminated him from contention. The break was caught outside of 2KM to go as Pinarello Q36.5 were lighting up the climb. They pulled off which created a moment of pause and Nairo Quintana of Movistar hit the group. Jayco AlUla got control and started riding for Mauro Schmid who was looking comfortable in the wheels. Quintana persisted and dangled out 30M ahead until about 600M to go. Shortly after, Schmid ran out of teammates and was forced to the front but he didn't put in a big attack. He slowly wound up the pace until 200M to go when he finally accelerated away from the group of less than 15 riders. Christian Scaroni of XDS-Astana was the only one to initially follow but he didn't have enough gas to get out of the slipstream. Schmid crossed the line in front of Scaroni and Martin Tjøtta of Uno-X Mobility who were clocked in at 1 second for second and third on the day.
The GC more or less mirrors the stage results. There are 10 riders within 30 seconds which is close enough to be in overall conversation with Green Mountain to come in a few days.
Tags: Tour of Oman, 2026, Tour of Oman 2026, Stage 3, February, Samail Al Fayhaa Resthouse, Eastern Mountain, Baptiste Veistroffer, Quentin Pacher, Jonas Hem Hvideberg, Alex Baudin, Rui Oliveira, Stanisław Aniołkowski, Jensen Plowright, Nairo Quintana, Mauro Schmid, Christian Scaroni, Martin Tjøtta