From the 7th to the 11th of February the peloton takes on the Tour of Oman, the continuation of the Middle Eastern calendar, with a stage-race that features sprints, explosive days and steep mountains. We preview stage 3, which is estimated to start and finish at 07:10 and 11:50CET.Meanwhile the Tour of Oman has grown since its debut in 2010 into one of the most respected early-season stage races outside Europe. Organized by (ASO), the race became a regular fixture on the UCI calendar, first as part of the UCI Asia Tour and, more recently, in the UCI ProSeries—a status it retains in 2026. It is a traditional early-season race for many years now, chosen by the riders due to the warm weather conditions, variety of stage profiles and also proper climbing tests early in the year.
Profile: Samail – Eastern Mountain
Stage 3: Samail – Eastern Mountain, 191 kilometers
Stage 3 of the race presents a solid mix between the puncheurs and the climbers when it comes to the fight for the stage win. It is, as the Spanish call, a ‘unipuerto’ stage, where you have got no climbing throughout the day, followed by a summit finish.
The climb of Eastern Mountain is 3.5 kilometers long at 7.6%, long enough that it is a rather constant effort, but nevertheless a mostly anaerobic effort where explosivity and the raw watts are also required. This will be an important day for the overall classification, even if the queen stage lies ahead.
Prediction Tour of Oman 2026 stage 3:Â *** Adam Yates, Mauro Schmid
** Valentin Paret-Peintre, Christian Scaroni
* Luke Plapp, Diego Pescador, Bart Lemmen, Henok Mulubrhan, Lorenzo Fortunato, Paul Double
How: The UAE riders’ form is impressive and I think he’ll be able to climb well enough for no-one to be able to keep up before the final meters.
Original: Rúben Silva