Tour of Oman Stage 5: Froome sees off Contador attacks to take stage and tighten grip on GC

Team Sky’s Chris Froome is set to win the biggest race to date of his career in the Tour of Oman after consolidating his lead by winning today’s penultimate stage despite a strong challenge from Alberto Contador, who had started the day third overall, 25 seconds behind.

Froome prevailed in a three-way sprint finish at the Ministry of Housing in Boshar, with the Saxo-Tinkoff rider second and Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez, fifth overall on GC at the start of the stage and 45 seconds off the race lead, placing third.

With a sprinter-friendly stage tomorrow bringing this year's race to a close, today represented the only realistic chance for Contador to try and take the race lead from Froome, who according to David Millar is the only rider the Spaniard truly fears.

There’s a lot of racing between now and the Tour de France starting at the end of June, and early season races aren’t necessarily the best indicator of form, but Froome’s victory today will only reinforce his credentials as one of Contador's chief rivals this summer.

A tough parcours today which included three climbs of the Bousher Alamrat saw attacks throughout, with eight riders getting away early on in the 144km stage from the Al Alam Palace.

Sky had protected Froome on the first of those three ascents, but on the second the peloton was blown apart, leaving a front group of 22 riders as Contador went on the assault again on the second climb.

He was reeled in, but attacked again on the third ascent, and Froome had to dig deep to make it back up to the Spaniard along with Rodriguez. The three remained out front alone on the 12.5km descent to the finish, where Froome proved strongest.

Tour of Oman Stage5 result  
  
1  FROOME Christopher    SKY PROCYCLING                3h 29' 19"
2  CONTADOR Alberto      TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF              + 00' 00"
3  RODRIGUEZ Joaquin     KATUSHA TEAM                   + 00' 00"
4  IMPEY Daryl           ORICA GREENEDGE                + 00' 04"
5  STYBAR Zdenek         OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP        + 00' 04"
6  NOCENTINI Rinaldo     AG2R LA MONDIALE               + 00' 04"
7  TSCHOPP Johann        IAM CYCLING                    + 00' 04"
8  EVANS Cadel           BMC RACING TEAM                + 00' 04"
9  HERNANDEZ Jesus       TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF              + 00' 04"
10 POZZOVIVO Domenico    AG2R LA MONDIALE               + 00' 08"
11 SOUPE GEOFFREY        FDJ                            + 00' 34"
12 BRESCHEL Matti        TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF              + 00' 34"
13 RATTO Daniele         CANNONDALE                     + 00' 34"
14 GILBERT Philippe      BMC RACING TEAM                + 00' 34"
15 EIJSSEN Yannick       BMC RACING TEAM                + 00' 34"
16 MARCATO Marco         VACANSOLEIL-DCM                + 00' 34"
17 VOSS Paul             TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA             + 00' 34"
18 BOUET Maxime          AG2R LA MONDIALE               + 00' 34"
19 ELMIGER Martin        IAM CYCLING                    + 00' 34"
20 VELITS Peter          OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP        + 00' 34"
  
Overall standings after Stage 5  
  
1 FROOME Christopher     SKY PROCYCLING               20h 04' 13"
2 CONTADOR Alberto       TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF              + 00' 27"
3 EVANS Cadel            BMC RACING TEAM                + 00' 39"
4 RODRIGUEZ Joaquin      KATUSHA TEAM                   + 00' 50"
5 NOCENTINI Rinaldo      AG2R LA MONDIALE               + 01' 13"
6 TSCHOPP Johann         IAM CYCLING                    + 01' 13"
7 NIBALI Vincenzo        ASTANA PRO TEAM                + 01' 19"
8 ELISSONDE KENNY        FDJ                            + 01' 34"
9 POZZOVIVO Domenico     AG2R LA MONDIALE               + 01' 44"
10 BOUET Maxime          AG2R LA MONDIALE               + 02' 00"