Tour of Oman stage 4

The Green Mountain, Jabal al Akhdhar is where the Tour will change from a sprinter's race to a climber's race.  -To paraphrase the Great Eddy Merckx.  Anything to do with cycling and Eddy knows what he is talking about.  As if on cue from the Merckx, Gesink took the regins from the sprinters and the rest of the field as he ascended the Green Mountain and took 47sec out of his closest competitor Boasson Hagen (Sky).  Devenyns (QuickStep) came in third with a 51second gap, and Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini) in fourth down 53sec to Gesink.

Gesink enjoyed the victory and Rabobank now has three wins in Oman thanks to Theo Bos' two stage wins.  Gesink is only riding for form in Oman, and with the way things are going he seems to be finding just what he is looking for.  He dedicated this win to his father who passed away last October, and said that it was difficult to train over the winter, but wanted to win one for his family.  "I did it for my dad," said Robert.

Sky did everything they could to keep Boasson Hagen protected at the front, but Gesink was clearly riding with extra emotion.  Have to mention Christian Vande Velde (Garmin) who is looking good, especially on the climb of the day.  His Garmelo team is super strong and did a great job keeping him in the mix so that he was able to do work in the end.  Something to note:  Cancellara (Leopard) came in 1:34 down in 11th place.  This is noteworthy because Spartacus is not know for his climbing prowess, he actually beat his teammate Fuglsang by 30sec.  Nice job.

The final stage and ITT is tomorrow and the top 5 on GC is separated by 1:03.  This will make for an interesting finale on the 18.5k hilly out and back time trial.

Stage 4
1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 4:03:58
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 0:00:47
3 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:00:51
4 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli 0:00:53
5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:01:02
7 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:01:05
8 Michael Albasini (Swi) HTC-Highroad
9 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling 0:01:12
10 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli 0:01:29

GC
1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 16:15:18
2 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling 0:00:44
3 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 0:00:57
4 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:03
5 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli