On the Rivet

A look at who’s racing hard this week…

 Tour of Oman

The big boys come out to play

It’s always hard to pick favorites in early season races as some riders come to win but many treat them as slightly more challenging training rides.  A sprinty race that can turn into a strong man race with a bit of wind Oman would be Qatar part two were it not for one major difference: Jabal Al Akhdhar. Cue the Middle Eastern throat singing here. The Green Mountain is a game changer and always determines the overall winner.  To be fair this race has several more hills than Oman but they rarely have much impact.  With the first stage in the books we have a few clues as to how this race will pan out.  Kittel took the first stage and is obviously going for sprint points.  None of the other WFL sprinters were up there with him, however, it should be noted that Phinney (The Big Phin, Shark Phin?) placed high and is showing some excellent early season form.  The other lesson we learned is that Wiggo isn’t going to race for much until the Giro, he is already over a minute down and thoughts have turned to his vacation, I mean, “training camp” in the Canary Islands.  So who are the favorites?  Velits won here last year and he is looking to snatch another victory early this year.  This could be a Sagan or Gilbert route, but the Green Monster tends to be just too tough a climb.  Look for the real climbers to take this one. Here are our riders.

Forza: Nocentini, Gilbert, Nibali

Fujarky: Evans, Contador

Dynamic: Sagan, Rodriguez, Velits,

Volpe: Boonen, Cancellera, Kittel, Phinney

Guillaume: Terpstra, Goss, Wiggins, Froome, Porte, Breschel

Taco: Van Avermaet, Degenkolb

Wiskota Podium Predictions:

Nibali, Contador, Velits