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Sandstorm, wind and heat force Tour of Oman stage cancellation (+ video)

Penultimate stage of Persian Gulf race abandoned after riders protest over safety concerns

Riders at the Tour of Oman including Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali staged a protest over dangerous conditions with strong winds, sandstorms and soaring temperatures eventually forcing organisers to cancel Stage 5 of the six-day race.

Organisers had earlier taken the decision to shorten the 151-kilometre stage from Al Sawadi Beach to the Ministry of Housing, but following discussions with riders concerned about their safety, it was cancelled.

Temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius followed sandstorms that had affected the early part of the stage, and the heat caused tyres to puncture.

Here’s a Vine posted by Nibali’s Astana team showing the conditions riders faced at the beginning of the stage, with the arch above the start line collapsing as it was buffeted by the wind.

 

 

Going into Sunday's final stage, Lampre-Merida’s Rafael Valls leads by five seconds from BMC Racing’s Tejay van Garderen on the general classification, with Alejandro Valverde of Movistar third, 19 seconds off the lead.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

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Beefy | 9 years ago
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oil?

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kie7077 | 9 years ago
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Screw those gulf countries and their abominable human rights records, I don't want to know anything about anything they're doing.

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DominicC | 9 years ago
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all that sand in your drive train.. cant be good for you chain  19

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zagatosam | 9 years ago
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Bah, the TriYAS triathlon in Abu Dhabi still went ahead on Friday despite wind, sand and sweltering temperatures (I'm still coughing a bit to be honest) Let's hope it improves before Challenge Dubai this Friday......

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ronin | 9 years ago
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Missing the one bit of kit that they could have used to complete the stage....A Toyota Land cruiser  21

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Jamminatrix | 9 years ago
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Weather at Oman and Qatar always sucks, and this year there was no TV coverage of Oman. I'll be surprised if any teams bother sending any big name riders next year.

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DavidC replied to Jamminatrix | 9 years ago
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The Oman tour shouldn't be lumped in with the other Gulf races. The terrain in Oman is much different, often spectacular for cycling, and at this time of year the weather can be great. When I was there to see the tour in 2012 the weather was perfect.

However the dust storm that went through the region this weekend was terrible and the stage should have been cancelled without argument.

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