Tour of Oman

The Tour of Oman is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Oman since 2010 as part of the UCI Asia Tour. The race is classified as a 2.HC (as of 2012). The race is organized by the Amaury Sport Organisation, and was held for the first time between 14 and 19 February 2010. The race is a men's competition consisting of six stages. The race contains mainly flat stages, with some hillier parts.

During the race, the leader of the General Classification wears a red jersey, the leader of sprinter's points classification is denoted by a green jersey and best young rider by white. The race does not contain a mountains jersey. The most aggressive rider wears a white jersey with green and red polka-dots.

The inaugural edition of the race in 2010, consisted of 6 stages, beginning with a 16-lap criterium in Muscat Corniche and ending with an 18.6 km time trial, also in Muscat.Fabian Cancellara won this event after coming second in the final time trial to Edvald Boasson Hagen.

Oman

Coordinates: 21°N 57°E / 21°N 57°E / 21; 57

Oman (ⁱ/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان‎ ʻUmān pronounced [ˈuːmaːn]), officially the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان‎ Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab country in the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Holding a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the nation is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest, and shares marine borders with Iran and Pakistan. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz (which it shares with Iran) and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.

From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was a powerful empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to modern-day Iran and Pakistan, and as far south as Zanzibar (today part of Tanzania, also former capital). As its power declined in the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the United Kingdom. Historically, Muscat was the principal trading port of the Persian Gulf region. Muscat was also among the most important trading ports of the Indian Ocean. Oman's official religion is Islam.

2016 Tour of Oman

The 2016 Tour of Oman is a road cycling stage race that will take place between 16 and 21 February 2016 in Oman. It will be the seventh edition of the Tour of Oman and is rated as a 2.HC race as part of the 2016 UCI Asia Tour. The previous year's champion, Rafael Valls, was not present to defend his title.

Teams

Eighteen teams were invited to take part in the race. These included nine UCI WorldTeams and nine UCI Professional Continental teams.

UCI WorldTeams

UCI Professional Continental teams

Pre-race favourites

The Tour of Oman comes towards the beginning of the road cycling season. It follows two other races in the Middle East: the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Qatar, which in 2016 were won by Marcel Kittel (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Mark Cavendish (Team Dimension Data respectively. The Dubai Tour and the Tour of Qatar are focused particularly on sprinters and classics riders, but the Tour of Oman is an opportunity for the climbers to compete for overall victory, with the climb of Jebel Akhdar normally decisive. Many riders who compete for the Grand Tours and the Ardennes classics start the race as part of their preparation, although increased competition from early-season European races meant that the start list for the 2016 Tour of Oman was not as strong as in some previous editions.

Stage

Stage or stages is an abstract object often associated with either theater and scene or point of progress.

It may also refer to:

Acting

Music

Amaury Sport Organisation

The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group, EPA (Éditions Philippe Amaury). It organises sporting events including the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally. In 2008 it began the Central Europe Rally, a rally raid endurance race in Romania and Hungary.

The Tour de France was instituted by the newspaper L'Auto in 1903. The paper was closed after the 1939-45 War because of its links with the occupying Germans and a new paper, L'Équipe, took over. L'Équipe (now part of EPA) organised the Tour until the race was taken over by its parent company, ASO.

ASO organises the Paris Marathon, cycling events in Africa (Tour du Faso) and the Middle East (Tour of Qatar), golf (the Open de France, Lacoste Ladies Open de France and Grand Prix Schweppes) and sailing (Tour de France à la voile). ASO also organises cyclosportives events for amateur cyclists, including the L'Étape du Tour and La Etapa de la Vuelta.