Wearing the leader’s jersey since his victory on Monday, David Gaudu had a rather calm day on Tuesday on stage 4 of the Tour of Oman. The Frenchman safely finished within the peloton, while Olav Kooij claimed the win, and therefore retained the lead overall before the last stage, on Wednesday, on the well-known Green Mountain.
A fourth stage without any real obstacles was looming on Tuesday on the Tour of Oman, going towards the seaside. Also, David Gaudu tackled the 181 kilometres on the day’s menu with the red leader’s jersey on his shoulders. Theoretically, his jersey wasn’t at risk today. “I was quite calm approaching this stage because it was made for the sprinters,” he said. “The profile wasn’t very hard on paper, and on top of that, three riders went away very early, from kilometre 0. We didn’t even have to pull because the sprinters’ teams did it for us.” As they were all very far from the Frenchman overall, the fugitives took a lead of nearly nine minutes in the first part of the race, before the pack gradually came back in the second half of the course. However, one of the attackers was dropped quite early, so much so that the peloton found itself in contention for a bonus second in the second intermediate sprint, with about sixty kilometres to go. “The team managed the situation very well,” added David. “The goal was for no rider in the top 5 overall, especially Adam Yates, to take any bonuses.”
“We have the strength to manage tomorrow’s stage”, Thierry Bricaud
Once this mission was accomplished, Groupama-FDJ remained quite discreet until they entered the last ten kilometres. “In the final, we did what we had to do until the final three kilometres,” added David. “The guys were great, then I took as few risks as possible at the very end.” The French climber then crossed the line without incident, at the same time as Olav Kooij, once again winner of the sprint. The general standings therefore remain unchanged on the eve of the final, decisive stage. “The morning briefing was to have a day as calm and serene as possible in order to recover from yesterday, and save as much energy as possible for tomorrow,” summarized Thierry Bricaud. “We know there is an important day ahead and that we will have the responsibilities of the race. We will be under pressure in the final, but we have the strength to manage it.” “Since this morning, I’ve been thinking about the Green Mountain,” David concluded. “I know it’s going to be a tough fight; it’s going to be hot, but I know the team is solid. I can’t wait to see how we can manage the day and then it’ll be a man-to-man battle on the last climb. Legs won’t lie.”
David Gaudu will start this last day of racing with a six-second lead over his closest rival, Adam Yates.
