Tour of Oman

10-02-2010 22:03:05

HTC-Columbia will be heading for one of the newest races on the international calendar this weekend, when the squad lines up for the first ever Tour of Oman in the Middle East.

Running from February 14th - 19th and coming straight after the nearby Tour of Qatar, where HTC-Columbia is also racing, Oman consists of five road stages and a final 18 kilometre individual time-trial.

"The time-trial being on the last stage will shape events a lot. The teams, like us, with time trial specialists will try to control  the race so they get to that last day in a good position," says HTC-Columbia's Bernhard Eisel, taking part both in Qatar and Oman.

"It's probably not going to be such a nervous race as Qatar, although it's hillier too, so it won't be straightforward.

"Normally at this point in the season I get in a stage win at the Tour of the Algarve [in Portugal] and hopefully history will repeat itself in Oman!"

"We're bringing in Marco Pinotti especially for Oman because he'll be good for that time trial," adds HTC-Columbia sports director Valerio Piva. "Then we've got Bernhard and Leigh Howard, who are both fast riders, for the sprints too.

"We'll try to protect Marco so he doesn't lose any time in the first five days. He hasn't done Qatar like some of the other time-triallists who'll be taking part, so he should be fresher. We're definitely feeling optimistic about his chances."

HTC-Columbia for Tour of Oman: Lars Bak (Den); Gert Dockx (Bel);  Bernhard Eisel (Aut); Adam Hansen (Aus); Leigh Howard (Aus);  Marco Pinotti (Ita); Martin Velits (Svk).