The 11th Tour of Oman (open in new tab) will take place next month, and the summit finish at Green Mountain will once again be the queen stage.

The race, which will cover a total distance of 911 km, will lead riders from the coast through the capital city of Muscat to Green Mountain for the 10th time.

Oman is mourning the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the country's leader of 50 years who died earlier this month at age 79, but the race is set to run from February 11-16.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said was largely responsible for modernizing the Gulf states from provincial and poor to the booming nations of today. His successor, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, has pledged to honor Qaboos' legacy of diplomacy, peace, and regional coexistence.

There was no mention of regime change in the route's press release, but the route turns inland from Rustag, with its 12th century castle, to a flat finish in Muscat.

Stage 2 will see sprinters in action as they race 167.5 km along the coast to Suhar. The third stage is 190.5 km to Koulayat, and the fourth stage is a short 120 km stage starting from the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, both with short climbs that will be enough for the Classics specialists to test their mettle.

Stage 5 is the queen stage to Jabal Al Akhdar, known as the "Green Mountain" where Alexey Lutsenko took the overall win last year. The grand finale is 144.5 km to the corniche in Matra, which will not disrupt the overall standings.

Among those expected to compete in the 2020 Tour of Oman are Nasser Bouhani, looking for another victory with his new team Arkea-Samsic, Mark Cavendish, looking for a renaissance with Bahrain McLaren, and new team Cofidis Elia Viviani, who is polishing the lead-out train, and others.

Cycling News will post race reports, results, and photo galleries after each stage. Patrick Fletcher will be in Oman to collect exclusive interviews and news.