David Gaudu started the final stage of the 2025 Tour of Oman in the race lead but could not match Adam Yates’ attack, with Yates claiming his second consecutive GC victory at the race. Paret-Peintre won the stage with a strong late kick but without a big enough gap to overhaul the UAE leader.
It was the queen stage of the Tour of Oman and a fierce battle between Adam Yates and David Gaudu for the GC title. Gaudu, thanks to his victory on Eastern Mountain, was the race leader and had never won a single GC title in a pro race. Yates had won on the steep Green Mountain last year, attacking Jan Hirt only at the very end of the climb and setting a new record of 18:04 minutes with 6.79 ᵉW/kg. Later, Yates crashed in the UAE Tour and never got the chance to showcase his form to the home audience, as UAE Emirates failed in the GC with race leader Jay Vine cracking on the final stage up Jebel Hafeet. This year, Tadej Pogačar will defend his team’s honour in their home race.
There was a strong tailwind up Green Mountain, and as usual, it was a very easy stage, with Norwegian Embret Svestad-Bårdseng from Arkéa – B&B Hotels doing 1,913 kilojoules over 2 hours and 54 minutes, averaging 10.08 kj/kg/h. The peloton was pushing full speed, while a large breakaway featuring Mauri Vansevenant, who won and beat Matteo Jorgenson on Green Mountain in 2023, stood no chance of surviving.
Jay Vine performed well on the stage, providing a lead-out for Yates on the rampas inhumanas and drastically reducing the group to just a few riders before finishing 9th. When Vine was done, only Yates, Gaudu, and Paret-Peintre remained. Gaudu was not going to win his first GC title, he simply could not follow Yates’ attack. But a different Frenchman, Paret-Peintre, managed to hold the desert race king’s wheel until the finish line. Yates could not respond to Paret-Peintre’s vicious late kick and lost by two seconds, but it was still enough to secure the overall win by six seconds. This marked Yates’ second Tour of Oman GC victory, joining Chris Froome and Alexey Lutsenko as the only two-time winners of the race.
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Despite the strong tailwind, Yates was six seconds slower than his 2024 time, with an estimated 6.72 ᵉW/kg. Paret-Peintre’s massive win and strong performance throughout the final week make him a rider to watch in Tirreno-Adriatico, Catalunya, and the Giro d’Italia, thanks to his lethal finishing kick, high w/kg, and lightweight physique. After his great ride on a shorter climb, Gaudu could only manage 6.45 ᵉW/kg and lost 45 seconds. Not far behind him were Svestad-Bårdseng, Uijtdebroeks, Poels, Howson, and Harper.
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