McCann before the start in Oman today
A mechanical problem and a flare-up of an old back injury conspired to make David McCann’s ride a difficult one on today’s queen stage of the Tour of Oman, which finished at the top of the notorious Green Mountain.
The Belfast man’s saddle moved out of position causing some knock on problems.
“An old back injury flared up on me again and I spent most of the day in pain and a bit one-legged,” he told stickybottle after nearly five hours in the saddle under the Oman sun.
“It wasn’t the best with a monster steep climb at the end. It wasn't until the bike was going up on the car after that I realised my saddle had slipped back about 30mm which is most likely what flared the back up. I knew something wasn't right, but I just couldn't put my finger on what.”
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He said he had some physio work on the injury after today’s stage and with his bike fixed was looking forward to riding in his correct position tomorrow.
Today’s stage was won by Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), whose aggression and climbing ability meant only Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) could stay with him up the final climb to the finish.
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Velits took second on the stage and takes the leader’s jersey into tomorrow’s final stage. The Slovak is just one second ahead of Nibali on GC.
McCann lost 11.40 and is now in 90th place as a result of his problems today. However, he has at least the satisfaction of knowing he has two tough stage races now in his legs – Qatar and Oman – before he begins his assault proper on the Asian circuit in search of the UCI ranking points he will need to collect to get to the Olympics.
Stage 5 (158km)
1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 4:43:47
2 Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep same time
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 25 secs
4 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 30 secs
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack-Nissan 37 secs
6 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 47 secs
7 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team 55 secs
8 Thomas Lebas (Fra) Bridgestone Anchor 57 secs
114 David McCann (Irl) RTS Racing Team 11:40
General Classification
1 Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 18:20:58
2 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:00:01
3 Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack-Nissan 0:00:17
4 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:00:21
5 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 0:00:30
6 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
7 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team 0:00:47
8 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin - Barracuda 0:00:49
90 David McCann (Irl) RTS Racing Team 0:14:11
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