Tour of Oman Stage 2: Al Hazm Castle > Al Bustan, 196.5kms

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Stage two is starting from another fine castle, this time in Al Hazm...
scenery oman
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Lucky boy - a young Omani sits between Niki Terpstra and Tom Boonen at the start...
fans oman
Gatis Smukulis leads the day's hopeful escape - they'll gain five minutes quite quickly..
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The peloton speeds past a huge mosque at Al Rustaq...
scenery oman
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The peloton is in single file as it pedals out into the desert in pursuit of the escape...
scenery oman
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Sam Bennett and Phillip Deignan swap Irish jokes while their teamates do the chasing...
friends bora
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Matthew Goss chats with ex-teamate Damien Howson...
mtn oman
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Oliveira Rincon and Rui Costa would be speaking Portuguese, except that the speed is too high to talk right now..!
lampre
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Enrico Barbin is pushing the escape along nicely, but he soon punctures and goes back to the peloton...
bardiani
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Andrea Guardini looks good in red, but can he hang on to his leader's jersey today..?
astana oman
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Astana chases on behlaf of Guardini, but the gap as actually increased to over five minutes...
astana
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Peter Sagan shows his class by fetching water bottles on such a hot, hot day...
tinkoff bottles
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The peloton is dwarfed by some of Arabia's highest mountains - which they'll race up on stage four...
scenery oman
Arnaud Demare has been blown out the back at the feed-zone - the speed has suddenly increased..!
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Tinkoff is the reason for the acceleration in front..!
tinkoff
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Tinkoff leads the peloton towards Muscat, but the lead has barely been reduced...
tinkoff peloton
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Smukulis is very strong in front, his two colleagues from Topsport can barely stay with him...
katusha
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Smukulis pulls away on the climb of Hamriyah with 20-kilometres to go...
katusha
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Tinkoff and BMC lead the chase up Hamilyah a few minutes later...
climbing
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The peloton is breaking up on this steep climb - only about 40 riders will fight out the finale today...
oman climbing
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Guardini can only watch as the race leaves his behind...
astana
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Movistar chases Smukulis down and keeps the pace high for Valverde or Lobato...
amador
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Julian Arredondo attacks with Ben Hermans and Jacob Fuglsang, but there's more to come...
trek oman
Eighteen riders fight out the finish, with Cancellara sprinting against Van Avermaet, Sagan Pozzzato and Valverde...
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Fabian Cancellara wins stage two from Valverde and Van Avermaet..!
trek oman
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Fabian Cancellara celebrates his first win of 2015...
trek oman
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Fabian Cancellara is all smiles as the new race-leader...
trek oman