With three passages of a climb to contend with on the circuit, the main field split to pieces at the Tour of Oman. And Nicolas Roche emerged one of the strongest.
Nicolas Roche makes strongman's front group in Oman
With his team enjoying a very strong run at the Tour of Oman, Nicolas Roche was to the fore today.
The race split to pieces after three passages of the Al Jabal Street climb; a 3.4km incline on the circuit.
As the race approached that climb for the final time the last of the early breakaway men were still clear.
However, Astana and BMC Racing put in a huge effort on the front. And that slimmed the front group down to just 26 men.
⚡ STAGE 4 HIGHLIGHTS ⚡
With only 117.5km and lots of climbing from Yiti (Al Sifah) to Ministry of Tourism, stage 4 of #TOO2018 made for fireworks featuring the likes of @vincenzonibali, @SupermanlopezN, @NikiTerpstra & @MagnusCort pic.twitter.com/sCupa3MBxs— Tour of Oman (@tourofoman) February 16, 2018
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Roche was in there, and indeed was one of those on the front doing the damage.
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In the end while he gave his all for race leader and team mate Greg Van Avermaet, it was Astana that won the day.
The in-form Magnus Cort took the sprint win from Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain-Merida) and the BMC pairing of Alberto Bettiol and Van Avermaet.
Roche lost a few seconds off the back of the group having emptied the tank to pull the group clear and position the race leader and Bettiol for the finish.
The only other Irishman in the race; Conor Dunne of Aqua Blue Sport was 97th at 10:56.
Stage 4: Yiti to Ministry of Tourism (117.5k)
1 Magnus Cort (Den) Astana Pro Team 2:57:36
2 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
3 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
5 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
6 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
7 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
8 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
9 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
10 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
11 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
12 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
13 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
14 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
15 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
16 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
17 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
18 Daniel Pearson (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
19 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
20 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
21 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
22 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:00:08
23 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:18
24 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:54
25 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:37
97 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:10:56
General Classification
1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 15:54:20
2 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:09
3 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:13
4 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:16
5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:00:24
6 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:25
7 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
8 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
9 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
10 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:33
11 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
12 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
13 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:38
14 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:51
15 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:05
16 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:18
17 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
18 Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
19 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:24
20 Daniel Pearson (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport
21 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:43
22 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:01:45
23 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:54
24 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:17
25 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:02:31
93 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:19:38
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