David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) climbed to victory on stage 3 of the Tour of Oman after a thrilling battle up Eastern Mountain with Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) that lasted all the way to the line.
When Yates pulled alongside the Frenchman with 100 metres to go, it looked as though the defending champion had paced his efforts better than Gaudu, the most active rider on the 4.8km ascent. However, Gaudu found another gear and kicked home for the win.
Damien Howson (Q36.5) was third on the stage five seconds behind Gaudu, with Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) taking fourth.
The latter's teammate Louis Vervaeke, who started the day in the race leader's jersey after his breakaway win on stage 2, fought valiantly but ceded the lead when he was dropped in the final 3km.
Thanks to his winning margin and ten bonus seconds gained for the victory, Gaudu moved into the overall lead, just six seconds ahead of Yates with two stages left to race. The GC will be decided on the final day to Green Mountain.
"I'm very happy with this win because it's my first this season and the first for the team. It was a very good day with the boys and I'm very proud of the work they did. They put it all on the table so I'm happy to finish the work, it's incredible," said gaudu.
"I've never won a GC in my life as a professional so now we have tomorrow a flat stage for sprinters and after we have the last stage, maybe the queen stage up Green Mountain so we are already focussed on that to try to keep the jersey and maybe win a second stage."
How it unfolded
After three days of racing in Oman at the Muscat Classic and opening two days of the Tour of Oman, racing kicked off from Fanja with 180.8km and Eastern Moutain on the menu.
Without the parcours offering much and full focus on the uphill finish, a six-man break was quickly allowed to form in the opening 20km.
Nicolas Vinokurov (XDS Astana), Rayan Boulahoite (TotalEnergies), Nur Amirul Fakhruddin Mazuki (Terengganu), Andreas Miltiadis (Roojai Insurance), Said Alrahbi and Mohammed Al-Wahibi (Oman) all made it in and the gap grew to more than three minutes.
Slowly they dropped one by one until only Vinokurov and Bolahoite, the two riders on professional teams remained. The former was the strongest of the original move, however, lasting all the way until 2km to go up the final climb.
Soudal-QuickStep had been doing the majority of pacing as the holder of the race leader's jersey, with Vervaeke even pulling in red for their main climber Paret-Peintre.
However, Groupama-FDJ then showed their hand and confirmed that Gaudu was feeling strong as they moved to the front and put in a huge effort to catch Vinokurov and line things out.
Yates looked spritely in the wheels and was the first to respond when Gaudu attacked. The Frenchman continued on applying the pressure, though, and went into the final 150 metres with the Brit close behind.
It looked certain that Yates was going to come over the top in the grinding uphill sprint, however, Gaudu hadn't given everything yet and still had enough to pull away for the win, coming to a complete stop after the all-out effort.
Results
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