Adam Yates places on the final podium of the Tour of Oman

Finishing in fourth place on the final stage of the Tour of Oman, Adam Yates secured his spot in third overall at the end of the five-day race. Twice a winner of the event, Yates has now finished on the final podium for three successive seasons, underlining his pedigree as one of the peloton’s most consistent climbers.

The British rider had to use all of his climbing ability on stage 5’s summit finish, with the route taking the riders up the Green Mountain, where the final honours were decided. It was here that the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man rode with trademark persistence to keep in touch with the head of the race, despite suffering a fall earlier in the week.

A speculative attack came from Luke Plapp of Jayco AlUla, whose teammate Paul Double was along for company, but it was Yates who did the bulk of the work to reel the Australian back in. Having benefitted from Yates’ endeavour, XDS Astana Team’s Christian Scaroni spotted his opportunity to strike.

The Italian rider struck out for home just 150m from the finish line and was able to use his sharp turn of pace to win the stage. In doing so, Scaroni claimed the overall title, whilst Yates crossed the line just seconds later in fourth. For Yates, the hard work earned him the third spot on the final podium.

For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the Tour of Oman has proved a successful edition, with Yates tuning up the band for his bigger targets later in the spring, and Colombian sprinter Sebastián Molano looking back to his best. A stage win came Molano’s way on the opening day, and he almost added to his tally on stage 4.

Looking back on his week in the Middle East, Yates was content with his and his team’s efforts across the five days.

Yates: “We were so far down [in the GC] after stage 3, with the crash, we just had to go full gas. We lost a lot of guys through sickness and injuries, so we did not have many options. We only had Pablo on the climb, and he is fighting through his own little injury, so he did the best he could for the lead-out.

“I had to go earlier than I had liked. Maybe in hindsight it was the wrong decision to go early but I needed to push and to test everybody and see how everybody was.

“The climb today was super hard, especially with the hot weather. I think the last two years were a little bit cooler, but today was a scorcher.

“I had nothing to lose today, I was more interested in taking the GC than going for the stage, so I was hoping if I kept pushing, pushing, pushing, I would crack everybody. But today there were a few guys stronger than me and sometimes that is how it is. We can say we tried, we pulled all day through Rune [Herregodts] and [Sebastiá] Molano, so we put everything into today, and the result is the result.”

Tour of Oman stage 5 results:

1. Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) 3:23:19

2. Cristián Rodríguez (XDS Astana Team) +3″

3. Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) +6″

4. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

Tour of Oman final general classification after stage 5:

1. Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana Team) 19:33:16

2. Cristián Rodríguez (XDS Astana Team) +24″

3. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +44″