18 teams to take part in Tour of Oman 2017

Muscat: Eighteen teams and 144 cyclists will take part in the Tour of Oman from February 14, a senior official has revealed.
“There will be 18 teams and 144 cyclists from all over the world. In all, they will tour 980kms in Oman. Locations and tracks will be announced in January 2017,” Habib Al Zawawi, the media coordinator of Tour of Oman, told Times of Oman.
The Tour of Oman is held soon after the Tour of Qatar and is conducted by the same team of organisers.
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) sealed the overall victory in the 2016 Tour after claiming the key stage to Green Mountain.
Norwegian riders Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) also made their mark on the race with two stage wins apiece.
The Tour of Oman is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Oman since 2010 as part of the UCI Asia Tour.
The race is organized by the Amaury Sport Organisation, and was held for the first time between February 14 and 19, 2010.
The race is a men's competition consisting of six stages. The race contains mainly flat stages, with some hillier parts.
During the race, the leader of the General Classification wears a red jersey, the leader of sprinter's points classification is denoted by a green jersey and best young rider by white.
The inaugural edition of the race in 2010, consisted of six stages, beginning with 16-laps around Muscat Corniche and ending with an 18.6 km time trial, also in Muscat.