Fernando Gaviria has won the final stage of the Tour of Oman, though his rival Mark Cavendish was left banging his handlebars in rage when he felt he had been blocked in the sprint by the stage winner's last lead-out man.
Just as Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) was trying to find a way through along the barriers in the sprint a the end of 132.5km Matrah Corniche, Maximiliano Richeze (UAE Team Emirates) was drifting back through the front of the group after leading out Gaviria.
Richeze drifted to his right, thus closing the door on Cavendish and meaning his shot at a second stage victory was gone in an instant. Cavendish was left to remonstrate with the Argentine as they rolled over the line; the British riders repeatedly banging in his handlebars in frustration.
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Richeze, who was 9th on the stage and defended himself against Cavendish's annoyance coming over the line, was later relegated in the result, though that had no impact on Gaviria's victory on the day.
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It was a disappointing end to the race for Cavendish, who was trying for a second victory after winning stage 2 and finishing 2nd on the opening stage. Cavendish also crashed yesterday and though he got back on to help defend team mate and then race leader Fausto Masnada, he was caught pushing off a car and docked nine points. That cost him his green jersey and he went from leading the competition to being nine points down.
Today, Gaviria - who had won the opening stage - had no problems and took the win ahead of young Australian Kaden Groves (BikeExchange - Jayco), with Amaury Capiot (Arkéa Samsic) rounding out the podium.
Cavendish could only manage 7th place and he had already lost the points classification jersey yesterday to Jan Hirt of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux. The Czech rider claimed a solo victory on Green Mountain yesterday and took the race lead from Cavendish's team mate Masnada.
As today's final stage came down to a sprint there was no change in the overall; Hirt taking the overall from Masnada by 1:00 with Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) in 3rd overall at 1:16. Gaviria ran out the winner of the points classification after his victory today.
