Bole consolidates top spot with third-stage win

MUSCAT: Slovenia’s Grega Bole consolidated his position on top of Tour of Salalah standings with a stage win in the third stage in Salalah on Tuesday.

The Shabab Al Ahli Dubai team cyclist prevailed in two hours 34 minutes in a photo-finish race as UAE’s Abdulla Jasim al Ali came a close second ahead of Netherlands’ Stefan Verhoeff (Universe Cycling Team).

The first 11 riders all clocked the same time in a thrilling conclusion to the 104km third stage from Al Haffa to Darbat.

The stage win earned Bole the green jersey for topping the points classification along with his leader’s golden jersey for time classification.

Abdulla Jasim kept his young rider white jersey while Tom Wijf Je kept his silver jersey for most aggressive rider.

The Tour of Salalah concludes on Wednesday with the fourth and last stage with a 147km race from Ain Razat to Ittin Public Park.

Universe Cycling Team led the team standings with Team Storck-Metropol Cycling and United Arab Emirates taking the second and third positions respectively. Victorious Club are fourth and hosts Oman are fifth.

Bole is the front runner for the Tour of Salalah title (10:11:47) with UAE teenager Abdulla Jasim 10 seconds adrift and Netherlands’ Kenny Nijssen of Universe Cycling Team 50 seconds adrift of the leader in the overall general standings.

The third stage witnessed 53 riders in action and second-stage winner Ahmed Naser of Bahrain came fourth while German rider Campo Schmitz of TSM finished fifth. Best Omani rider of the day was Said al Rahbi in 17th position (2:37:29) while his team-mate Mazin al Riyami finished 19th (2:37:46) for the Oman national team.