Tour of Oman 2015 Route stage 5: Al Sawai Beach

Tour of Oman 2015 Route stage 5: Al Sawai Beach - Ministry of Housing

Saturday, February 15, 2015 - Stage 5 offers a final to look forward to. Due to violent sand storms the race will not start as planned in Al Sawai Beach, but will now only contain the closing circuit, meaning the race will be more explosive with extra climbing up Bousher Alamrat.

Last update: Due to the warm conditions in Oman – with tempartures rising to 41°C – the race is now neutralized until the finish.

Due to the changes the steep Bousher Alamrat is on the menu six times (instead of four), three times from the west and three times from the east. The west-flank totals 3.7 kilometres in a two-stage ascent. In the first sector riders climb 370 height-metres, averaging a 10% gradient and with a steepest section of 20%. After the first summit they descent for 450 metres and then the climb continues for 850 metres at 5%.

From the east, Bousher Alamrat is 3.6 kilometres long. In the first sectors riders climb from 131 to 406 metres, averaging a 7.6% grade with a steepest section of 12%. Obviously it’s a two-stage climb again and after the first summit a descent of 850 metres is followed by a 450 metres climb at 11%.

Bousher Alamrat is crested for the last time with 12.5 km’s left.

The finale with the Bousher Alamrat is popular in the Tour of Oman. In 2013 Chris Froome, Alberto Contador and Joaquim Rodríguez escaped on the last (eastern) ascent and they finished in that order. Last edition saw a Chris Froome attack with Peter Sagan, Vincenzo Nibali and Rigoberto Uran counter-attacking. Sagan outsprinted his fellow-escapee Uran on the line, while Nibali finished 2 seconds down.