The anticipated attack from 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Romain Bardet (168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Ag2r-La Mondiale) duly arrived near the summit of the day’s final climb up Bousher Al Amarat, but 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) has proved unflappable at this Tour of Oman, an𒁃d the Frenchman’sౠ insurgence was quickly snuffed out.

Nibali, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:winner on the relentless grind up Green 🐼Mountain the previous afternoon, could afford to ride on the defensive here, as he held a 15-second buffer over Bardet coming iℱnto Saturday’s penultimate stage, an undulating run from the pretty coastal spot of Yiti to the tough finish circuit💛 around the Ministry of Tourism.

“Today was hard stage because we had to do that climb three times in the finale, and it was made tougher by the fact that we had the effects of yesterday’s efforts in our legs,” Nibali said after dismounting the p📖odium. “My team controlled it wဣell and I had [Michele] Scarponi and [Jakob] Fuglsang with me in the finale, so it was perfect.

“It was a nervous stage, very difficu♓lt. In years past, this has been a very difficult stage to manage, but my condition was very good, and together with Fuglsang, we looked to control things on the last time up the climb.”

Fuglsang, who lies third overall, 24 seconds down, had served as Nibali’s guard dog on Green Mountain on Friday, and he performed a similar task here. The Dane helped to peg back Bardet’s move over the top of the final 💜climb after Ag2r-La Mondiale had attempted to rid Nibali of his As🀅tana guard on the previous two ascents.

“Bardet attacked right at the top of the climb but then right at the start of the descent, there was another section where the road went up again, and Pozzovivo tried th🍨ere. But we always closed down the moves, we were very attent🌟ive,” Nibali said.

The pyrotechnics were only beginning, however, and by th🎉at point, Fuglsang was the only teammate Niba🧸li had left, though between them, the Astana pair managed to track every move.

“There were a lot of atta♊cks. Tom Dumoulin tried to break clear, [George] Be𒈔nnett too, and Rui Costa made a very strong attack, but Fuglsang was controlling everything,” Nibali said.

“We wanted to keep the race under control and we also knew Scarponi was ju🍸st behind, so at the bottom of the descent we were able to wait for him to get back on. It was calmer after that, and we got to the finish in that group for the sprint.”

Nibali rolled safely across the line in 12th place in the leading group behind stage winner Edvalꦰd Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and, sparing any mechanical mishaps on the flat final stage, he should be confirmed aꦑs overall winner on Matrah Corniche on Sunday afternoon.

N🐷ibali has looked comfortable throughout the week in Oman, and while the primary object of the excursion to the Gulf was to refine his condition for the battles yet to come, one senses that the Italian champion will be particularly pleased to come away with something more tangible, too, after troubled starts to the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

When Nibali won on Green Mountain in 2012 and finished second overall in Oman, just one second behind Peter Velits, it prefigured perhaps his finest spring campaign to that point, as he went on to take overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico and claim podium finishes at both Milan-San Remo and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. ܫNibali was coy when asked what overall victory this time around would mean for the weeks ahead.

“We’ll see how tomorrow goes first, there’s still another day still to come,” Nibali said. “But I’m ♓in a good mo𝓀ment right now, we’ve had a good week and I’m looking ahead to the next objectives.”