The 2016 Tour of Oman was a

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...

stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages, but sometimes stages ...

that took place between 16 and 21 February 2016 in

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

. It was the seventh edition of the

Tour of Oman The Tour of Oman is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Oman since 2010 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It was scheduled to become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020, but both the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled d ...

and is rated as a

2.HC The UCI 1.HC and UCI 2.HC are the second tier classification of road cycling races by the UCI, after the UCI World Tour (or its predecessor, the UCI ProTour). The races are part of the various UCI Continental Circuits. The 1.HC events are one-day ...

race as part of the

2016 UCI Asia Tour The 2016 UCI Asia Tour was the 12th season of the UCI Asia Tour. The season began on 20 February 2016 with the Le Tour de Filipinas and ended on 2 October 2016 with the Tour of Almaty. The points leader, based on the cumulative results of previous ...

. The previous year's champion,

Rafael Valls Rafael Valls Ferri (born 25 June 1987) is a Spanish professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Cocentaina, Valls left at the end of the 2013 season, and joined for the 2014 season. In 2015, Valls had his ...

, was not present to defend his title.

Teams

Eighteen teams were invited to take part in the race. These included nine

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road cycling, the UCI World Tour or UCI ProTour ...

s and nine

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

teams.

Pre-race favourites

The Tour of Oman comes towards the beginning of the road cycling season. It follows two other races in the Middle East: the

Dubai Tour The Dubai Tour is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Dubai, which began in 2014 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. History The race was classified as a 2.1. in 2014. The race is organized by the Dubai Sports Council in par ...

and the

Tour of Qatar The Tour of Qatar was an annual professional cycling stage race held in Qatar. First organized in 2002, the event was part of the UCI Asia Tour until 2016. The 2017 edition was to have seen the event upgraded to the UCI World Tour for the firs ...

, which in 2016 were won by

Marcel Kittel Marcel Kittel (born 11 May 1988) is a German former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2019 for the , and squads. As a junior, he specialised in time trials, even winning a bronze medal in the World Championships for cycl ...

() and

Mark Cavendish Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...

( respectively. The Dubai Tour and the Tour of Qatar are focused particularly on sprinters and

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

riders, but the Tour of Oman is an opportunity for the climbers to compete for overall victory, with the climb of Jebel Akhdar normally decisive. Many riders who compete for the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

s and the

Ardennes classics The Ardennes classics are three cycling classics held in mid-April in the Belgian Ardennes and southern Limburg in the Netherlands: Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. First held in 1892, 1936 and 1966 respectiv ...

start the race as part of their preparation, although increased competition from early-season European races meant that the start list for the 2016 Tour of Oman was not as strong as in some previous editions. The champion of the 2015 edition was

, who was then riding for but had moved to for the 2016 season. Lotto–Soudal was not among the teams invited to the race, so Valls was not present to defend his title. In his absence, the contenders for overall victory included

Vincenzo Nibali ), The Nibbler , birth_date = , birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy , height = , weight = , currentteam = , discipline = Road , role = Rider , ridertype = Climber , proyears1 = 2005 , proteam1 = , proyears2 = 2006–2012 , protea ...

(), who had won on Jebel Akhdar in 2012, and

Richie Porte Richard Julian Porte (born 30 January 1985) is an Australian professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His successes include wins at 8 UCI World Tour, World Tour stage races: Paris–Nice in 201 ...

(), who had won the queen stage of the

Tour Down Under The Tour Down Under (branded as the Santos Tour Down Under under a partnership arrangement) is a cycling race in and around Adelaide, South Australia, and is traditionally the opening event of the UCI World Tour and features all 19 UCI World ...

. Other strong riders included the riders

Romain Bardet Romain Bardet (born 9 November 1990) is a French professional racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Bardet is known for his climbing and descending abilities, which make him one of the top general classification contenders in Gra ...

and

Domenico Pozzovivo Domenico Pozzovivo (born 30 November 1982) is an Italian professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His very small stature confer him with the qualities of a pure climbing specialist. He is most known for a victor ...

, 's

Tom Dumoulin Tom Dumoulin (; born 11 November 1990) is a retired Dutch professional road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He has won nine stages across the three Grand Tours, five medals in three different World Championships and two Olympic s ...

, 's

Dan Martin Daniel Martin may refer to: People * Dan Martin (actor) (born 1951), American actor *Dan Martin (drama educator) (born 1953), American academic *Dan Martin (cyclist) (born 1986), Irish road bicycle racer *Dan Martin (footballer) (born 1986), Britis ...

, 's

Rui Costa Rui Manuel César Costa (; born 29 March 1972) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who is the 34th president of sports club S.L. Benfica. He also succeeded Luís Filipe Vieira as president of the club's SAD board of directors. ...

and 's

Eduardo Sepúlveda Eduardo Sepúlveda (born 13 June 1991) is an Argentine racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He rode at the 2014 UCI Road World Championships. Early life Sepúlveda was born in Rawson, the capital of Chubut, in the Patagonia ...

. The varied stages in the Tour of Oman meant that several different kinds of riders started the race. These included sprinters such as Sam Bennett (),

Alexander Kristoff Alexander Kristoff (born 5 July 1987) is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 2007 and 2011. His biggest victories have been the 2014 Milan ...

(),

Sacha Modolo Sacha Modolo (born 19 June 1987) is an Italian road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . Career Colnago-CSF (2010–2013) In the spring of 2010, he sprinted his way to fourth place in the cycling monument Milan – San R ...

(),

Andrea Guardini Andrea Guardini (born 12 June 1989) is an Italian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2021 for the , , , and teams. A sprinter, Guardini currently holds the record for most stage wins at the Tour de Langkawi w ...

(Astana) and

Moreno Hofland Moreno Hofland (born 31 August 1991) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2010 and 2021 for the , , and teams. Career In 2014 he took a stage win in Paris–Nice. In May 2015, Hofland gave his tea ...

(). The hilly finishes also attracted classics riders such as

Greg Van Avermaet Greg Van Avermaet (born 17 May 1985) is a Belgian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Considered one of the most versatile riders of modern cycling, Van Avermaet is a specialist of the classic cycle races, but has also ...

(BMC),

Davide Rebellin Davide Rebellin (9 August 1971 – 30 November 2022) was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI Continental team . He was considered one of the finest classics specialists of his generation with more than fifty top t ...

() and

Edvald Boasson Hagen Edvald Boasson Hagen (born 17 May 1987) is a Norwegian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI ProTeam . He was ranked as no. 3 in the world by UCI as of 31 August 2009, when he was 22 years old. He is known as an all-rounder, havin ...

().

Route

The 2016 race is scheduled to include six stages. This included one flat stage, three hilly stages, one stage with an uphill finish to Qurayyat and the queen stage finishing on Jebel Akhdar (the Green Mountain) where previous editions of the race have been decided. The climb of Jebel Akhdar was extended from previous races: it continued from the former finish line up to the top of the climb.

Classification leadership

There were five principal classifications in the 2016 Tour of Oman. The first and most important was the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulat ...

; the winner of this is considered the overall winner of the race. It is calculated by adding together each rider's times on each stage, then applying bonuses. Bonuses are awarded for coming in the top three on a stage (10 seconds for the winner, 6 seconds for the second placed rider and 4 seconds for the rider in third) or at intermediate sprints (3 seconds, 2 seconds and 1 second for the top three riders). The rider in the lead of the general classification wears a red jersey. The second competition is the

points classification The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...

. This is calculated by awarding points for the top 10 riders at the finish of each stage (15 points to the winner down to 1 point for the rider in tenth place) and to the top three at intermediate sprints (3 points, 2 points and 1 point). The rider with the highest points total is the leader of the classification and wears a green jersey. The young rider classification is open to those born on or after 1 January 1990. The young rider ranked highest in the general classification is the leader of the young rider classification and wears a white jersey. The combativity classification is based on points won at intermediate sprints and classified climbs along the route. Points are awarded to the top three riders across each sprint or climb (3 points, 2 points and 1 point). The rider with the most accumulated points is the leader of the classification and wears a white jersey with red and green sections. The final competition is the team classification. On each stage, each team is awarded a time based on the cumulative time of its top three riders. The times for each stage are then added together and the team with the lowest total time is the leader of the team classification. There is no jersey awarded for this classification.

References

External links

*
Le Tour
{{Tour of Oman

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...