Tour of Oman Stage 5: Vincenzo Nibali wins on Green Mountain

Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas Cannondale has won Stage 5 of the Tour of Oman, which today featured a summit finish on Jabal Al Akhdhar, better known to English speakers as Green Mountain.

The 27-year-old Sicilian, who ended 2011 without a victory although he was promoted earlier this month to second overall in last year's Giro d'Italia after Alberto Contador was stripped of his victory, had attacked 5 kilometres from the summit of the climb along with Peter Velits of Omega Pharma-Quick Step.

While Nibali rode away from the Slovak to take the stage win today, it is Velits who takes over from Lotto-Belisol's André Greipel as the new race leader by just one second from the Liquigas Cannondale rider, with RadioShack Trek's Tony Gallopin now in third place overall.

Tour of Oman Stage 5 result  

1  NIBALI Vincenzo        LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE      4h 43' 47"
2  VELITS Peter           OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP   + 00' 10"
3  CASAR Sandy            FDJ-BIGMAT                + 00' 25"
4  JEANNESSON Arnold      FDJ-BIGMAT                + 00' 30"
5  GALLOPIN Tony          RADIOSHACK-NISSAN         + 00' 37"
6  SLAGTER Tom            RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM     + 00' 47"
7  RODRIGUEZ Joaquin      KATUSHA TEAM              + 00' 55"
8  LEBAS Thomas           BRIDGESTONE ANCHOR        + 00' 57"
9  CANCELLARA Fabian      RADIOSHACK-NISSAN         + 01' 01"
10 NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas   GARMIN - BARRACUDA        + 01' 02"
11 GUSEV Vladimir         KATUSHA TEAM              + 01' 15"
12 TEN DAM Laurens        RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM     + 01' 20"
13 SHIMIZU Miyataka       BRIDGESTONE ANCHOR        + 01' 30"
14 VAN SUMMEREN Johan     GARMIN - BARRACUDA        + 01' 30"
15 FUGLSANG Jakob         RADIOSHACK-NISSAN         + 01' 46"
16 CHAVANEL Sylvain       OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP   + 01' 50"
17 HANSEN Adam            LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM        + 01' 50"
18 CRAWFORD Jai           RTS RACING TEAM           + 01' 50"
19 PINOTTI Marco          BMC RACING TEAM           + 02' 01"
20 SCHÄR Michael          BMC RACING TEAM           + 02' 01"
  
Tour of Oman overall standings after Stage 5  

1  VELITS Peter           OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP 18h 20' 58"
2  NIBALI Vincenzo        LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE       + 00' 01"
3  GALLOPIN Tony          RADIOSHACK-NISSAN         + 00' 17"
4  CASAR Sandy            FDJ-BIGMAT                + 00' 21"
5  JEANNESSON Arnold      FDJ-BIGMAT                + 00' 30"
6  SLAGTER Tom            RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM     + 00' 30"
7  RODRIGUEZ Joaquin      KATUSHA TEAM              + 00' 47"
8  NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas   GARMIN - BARRACUDA        + 00' 49"
9  LEBAS Thomas           BRIDGESTONE ANCHOR        + 00' 50"
10 CANCELLARA Fabian      RADIOSHACK-NISSAN         + 00' 52"