David McCann (RTS Racing) has enjoyed a comfortable day at the Tour of Oman, finishing in the peloton today, Thursday, as the heat and speed took its toll of many of the riders.
The Irishman ended the stage in 73rd, just eight seconds behind German stage winner Marcel Kittel (Project 1t4i).
McCann effectively finished in the group sprinting for first but was among a number of riders to lose a bit of time when a small gap opened in the finishing sprint, after 145kms run off in 3:23.
“It was a ‘calm before the storm’ sort of day today,” McCann told stickybottle.
“There was a long winding downhill start through a really beautiful canyon, then boring big main roads and it was pretty easy for most of the day; it was all just saving it up for a seriously hectic last 5km sprint.”
“A few roundabouts, u-turns, corners and lots of fresh legs made for about the most rapid run in I can remember. It’s seriously quick when everyone crams their race legs into the last few minutes of the day. It made me wish I had Marty Irvine's track legs on me. I got in an extra 50km ride back to the hotel. The next two days will be pretty tough with some short hard climbs tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a bit of suffering.”
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He added he was hopeful of catching some TV coverage over the weekend of Irvine in action in the London World Cup.
The rest of the field behind McCann today was scattered back the road, with some riders losing over three minutes. Tomorrow’s stage is 142.5km with an uphill finish.
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André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) was second in the bunch sprint today and with time bonuses for that he takes the GC lead from yesterday’s stage winner Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale).
Result Stage 3
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Project 1t4i 3:23:00
2 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team
3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
4 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Barracuda
5 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep
7 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
8 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling
73 David McCann (Irl) RTS Racing Team at 8 secs
General Classification
1 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team 9:59:41
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale 2 secs
3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat 8 secs
4 Baden Cooke (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team 9 secs
5 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 11 secs
6 Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack-Nissan 12 secs
7 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling
8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) RadioShack-Nissan 15 secs
60 David McCann (Irl) RTS Racing Team 1:26
