Tour of Oman 2014 Results 2nd stage: Kristoff takes sprint

Another flat stage, another sprint finish. After 139 kilometres of racing, Alexander Kristoff proved fastest taking stage 2 of this year's Tour of Oman. (Slideshow route/profile)

A bunch sprint seemed the only logical outcome today with Alexander Kristoff taking the stage and his first win of 2014. Leigh Howard came in second, a bike length behind the Norweigan. That's two second places in a row for Howard who will take some consolation with the fact that he now leads the race overall.

Three escapees today, among them the Belgian rider Preben Van Hecke, who also featured in the stage 1 break. The gap stretched to 8 minutes at one point but the peloton were always in control and reeled them in with 10 kilometres to go to set up a bunch finish.

Kristoff proved fastest in the sprint, with second place Howard followed closely by Tom Boonen, who continues his promising early season form and looks set for an assault on the classics.

Tour of Oman 2014 results 2nd stage

1. Alexander Kristoff (Norway)
2. Leigh Howard (New Zealand)
3. Tom Boonen (Belgium)
4. Robert Förster (Germany)
5. Nacer Bouhanni (France)
6. Nicola Ruffoni (Italy)
7. Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Belgium)
8. Marcus Burghardt (Germany)
9. Matteo Trentin (Italy)
10.Sam Bennett (Ireland)

GC after stage 2

1. Leigh Howard
2. Alexander Kristoff
3. André Greipel (Germany)
4. Preben Van Hecke (Belgium)
5. Tom Boonen (Belgium)
6. Nicola Ruffoni (Italy)
7. Paolo Colonna (Italy)
8. Nicola Boem (Italy)
9. Tony Gallopin (France)
10.Stijn Devolder (Belgium)