February 10, 2026
The fast men have only had one chance up until now and they'll be eager to make the most out of today's race before leaving Oman. At just 146KM, the route from Al Sawadi Beach to Sohar could not be more flat. The route follows the coastline from South to North and hardly ever deviates from the main road, accumulating only 140M of elevation along the way. The sprint field is not jam packed but there are plenty of names who, with the right lead out, can take on Juan Sebastián Molano.
Race Summary
The flag dropped at KM0 with the glistening waters of the Gulf of Oman over the left shoulders of the riders. The indefatigable Baptiste Veistroffer of Lotto Intermarché was the first attacker on the day but he was marked out immediately. Warre Vangheluwe of Soudal Quickstep countered and was joined by Patryk Goszczurny of Visma-Lease a Bike and they got away with no reaction from the peloton. The two leaders started their long journey North up the coast road and built a gap of 2 minutes 30 seconds with Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Uno-X Mobility, Alpecin-Premier Tech, and race leaders Jayco AlUla taking turns on the front of the peloton.
For the peloton, the main job of the day was staying cool and hydrated. The heat was not excessive but they were in a desert after all so the air was dry, making it very easy to become dehydrated. Next to nothing happened for the rest of the day. The peloton kept the gap relatively close and with 30KM to go, the two leaders had just 60 seconds.
With 10KM to go, as the riders went passed the enormous mosque of Sultan Qaboos Grand Masjid Sohar, sprint teams began to wake up, shake out the legs, and get ready for the finale. Trains formed and the peloton became more wide than long. Vangheluwe and Goszczurny kept a little in reserve and pinned their ears back but the peloton were charging behind. Uno-X Mobility, Alpecin-Premier Tech, and UAE-XRG were each riding with full teams at the front and unceremoniously swallowed up the break with around 3KM to go. There was a series of turns and roundabouts between 3KM and 2KM to go which Alpecin-Premier Tech led through. Uno-X Mobility took control after that which pushed Alpecin-Premier Tech back into the washing machine.
The Dutch squad re-organized and emerged as the only team with numbers coming under 1KM to go. There was a big fight from all of the other sprinters to tag on to their train. A surge forward at 300M from Steffen De Schuyteneer of Lotto Intermarché completely swamped Alpecin-Premier Tech and they never recovered. Erlend Blikra of Uno-X Mobility came from the other side of the road from De Schuyteneer all alone but as the Belgian faded, Blikra took the lead and would not be surpassed. It was a very impressive win for the Norwegian given where he had to come from after the sprint started. Emmanuel Houcou of Pinarello Q36.5 was the fastest man on the right side of the road, just beating Juan Sebastián Molano into third on the day.