Tour of Oman 2026: Veistroffer, Audacious

Yitti Hills, Sunday 8th February 2026

There are two ways to win in the always unpredictable finale of the Yiti Hills stage. Either by standing out among the peloton’s best puncheurs, as Diego Ulissi did in 2023, or by banking on a successful breakaway, like Louis Vervaeke in 2025, and now Baptiste Veistroffer, the author of a heroic solo ride in the finale of the longest stage of the Tour of Oman (191.4 km). The Lotto–Intermarché rider had already shown his ambition by spending 151 kilometers alone at the front during the Muscat Classic. This time, it was from a five-man breakaway, later reduced to a trio, that the young Frenchman executed a plan he had carefully prepared. The former triathlete dropped his last two companions, Patryk Goszczurny and Tim Marsman, on the penultimate steep ramp of the day to claim his first professional victory solo and take the red leader’s jersey of the Tour of Oman. In the general classification, he leads Henok Mulubrhan and Thibaud Gruel, who contested the peloton sprint on the finish line and are respectively 25 and 27 seconds behind in the overall standings.

Stage 2

1. Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) 04h22’43”
2. Henok Mulubrhan (XDS-Astana Team) +17”
3. Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ UNITED) +17”

GC

1. Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) 08h47’23”
2. Henok Mulubrhan (XDS-Astana Team) +25”
3. Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ UNITED) +27”