Caleb Ewan wins opening Stage at the Tour of Oman

Ewan powered ahead of Bryan Coquard and Alexander Kristoff in the final sprint showdown

The first stage of the tour was from the Oman Across Ages Museum in the Governorate of Al Dakhiliyah, 181.5 km to  the Oman Convention and Exhibition Center, a fairly flat course with two intermediate sprints,

Five men made in into the breakaway of the day, including two local Omani riders. Behind Team Jayco AlUla and Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL controled the peloton, and the gap was never allowed to stretch much further than three minutes.

With 30km to go, just three of the day's breakaway riders remained out front, around 1 minute clear of a peloton that seemed to be just waiting for the right moment to complete the catch.

It took a little while but with 11km to go, the catch was finally made and a full peloton raced towards the expected bunch sprint finale.

Not a totally flat sprint, there was a slow drag to the finish line in the final kilometre, but that didn't stop Caleb Ewan, who powered to the win ahead of Bryan Coquard and Alexander Kristoff.

The 29-year-old was teed up to perfection by his Team Jayco AlUla teammates with the recently crowned national criterium champion streaking away from his rivals with an imperious display of speed to take the victory in style and take the race lead.

As his teammates peeled off the front one by one, Ewan bided his time before launching his devastating kick for the line. Once he made his move, there was no catching the diminutive sprinter as he raced clear to take a memorable victory.

Caleb Ewan said afterwards, “I’ve had a few opportunities so far this year and never managed to win, so the pressure was building, but now I’m finally happy to get another win for the year. This was the only sprint of the race, so no more stage opportunities for me, but we have Davide [De Pretto] here who can do a good GC so we’ll be working for him from now on.”

The second stage begins on Sunday, February 11, from the Al Sifah area until the end of the stage in the Wilayat of Quriyat, with a distance of 170.5 km and an uphill finish not suited to pure sprinters.

VIDEO: 2024 Tour of Oman Stage 1 Highlights

2024 Tour of Oman Stage 1 Top 10

1  EWAN Caleb Team Jayco-AlUla 04:23:28
2  COQUARD Bryan Cofidis + 00
3  KRISTOFF Alexander Uno-X Mobility + 00
4  SYRITSA Gleb Astana Qazaqstan Team + 00
5  MAGNIER Paul Soudal Quick-Step + 00
6  CAPIOT Amaury ARKEA-B&B HOTELS + 00
7  DE POOTER Dries Intermarché-Wanty + 00
8  MALUCELLI Matteo JCL Team UKYO + 00
9  BRUSTENGA Marc Equipo Kern Pharma + 00
10  JAKOBSEN Fabio Team dsm-firmenich PostNL + 00