Merhawi Kudus wins white jersey in Oman

The Tour of Oman concluded today, with Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) winning the expected bunch sprint in Muttrah Corniche. Eduard Grosu (Nippo – Vini Fantini) and Sacha Modolo (UAE Abu Dhabi) completed the stage podium. Ben Hermans (BMC Racing) was the overall winner of the Tour of Oman.

The final stage, as expected, came down to a mass sprint finish. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka were concentrated on making no mistakes to keep the overall lead in the white jersey competition with Merhawi Kudus, and then also having a go for the stage victory with Kristian Sbaragli. In the final sprint, Sbaragli was able to net 9th place on the line for our African Team while Kudus finished safely in the bunch.

The results of the final stage meant Kudus was able to win the white jersey for the best young rider overall, thanks to his consistent performances throughout the week. Kudus was also 4th overall while teammates Lachlan Morton and Nathan Haas placed 8th and 10th overall respectively, Lachlan the 2nd placed young rider of the race.

While the stage win eluded our African Team this year in Oman, it was still a successful week of racing and Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka were the deserved winners of the overall best team classification.

I am really happy to win this jersey. I came to the race with high objectives for the overall classification and to finish 4th overall and win the young rider competition, I can be pleased with this performance. I must say thank you to the whole team for the support. We have some strong riders, even Lachlan and Nathan finished in the top 10, so it was very nice to also stand on the podium with all these guys who supported me. The season has started in a good way and now I go to Abu Dhabi Tour with good confidence, the field will be very strong there but again we have a strong team and I will hope to do my best once again.
Merhawi Kudus – Rider