Mauro Schmid is making a habit of this. The Swiss champion claimed his second win of the week on Stage 3 of the Tour of Oman, conquering Eastern Mountain and snatching the overall lead.
It wasn’t a straightforward march to the summit. A six-man break threatened to spoil the party, and two late crashes in the bunch shredded the peloton before the road even ramped up, catching out GC favorite Adam Yates. But Team Jayco AlUla stayed upright and organized.
The MVP of the finale was Paul Double, who buried himself to close down an attack from none other than Nairo Quintana (yes, he’s still attacking mountains). Double’s pace-setting cracked the climbers, launching Schmid to a sprint victory ahead of Astana’s Christian Scaroni. Schmid now holds a slender four-second lead in the GC. With the brutal Green Mountain looming, he’ll need every bit of that buffer.
Results
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