Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his excellent start to the 2015 road season with victory on Stage 3 of the Tour of Oman.
The 27-year-old followed up his success at the Tour of Qatar by beating Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Matteo Pelucchi (IAM) into second and third place respectively.
The flat 158-kilometre stage to Al Mussanah Sports City saw a breakaway formed immediately after the start, with Jef Van Meirhaeghe and Preben van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), as well as Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF), launching an attack.
The trio built up an advantage of around ten minutes within the opening 35 kilometres of the stage.
But they were unable to last the pace on the front as the peloton made a concerted effort to chase them down, and the escapees were eventually caught with 16 kilometres remaining.
That opened the door for the sprinters' teams to fight it out for the win once again, and it was Kristoff who was able to time his effort to perfection to fend off the Italian duo of Guardini and Pelucchi.
The racing continues on Friday with the first and only mountain stage of the race, a 189-kilometre effort finishing at Green Mountain.