Qatar Daily News

Stage 1
Team Sky blitz the team time trial and Edvald Boasson-Hagen pulls on the leaders yellow jersey after an 8.2km circuit around West Bay Lagoon.
Read the rest of this entry »

For the second year in a row the yellow jersey hung from his sculpted shoulders, but Belgium’s Tom Boonen looked as flat as the beige terrain he had spent the last six days negotiating on the Tour of Qatar.

Boonen claimed the General Classification by eight seconds from second-placed German Heinrich Haussler and third-placed Briton Roger Hammond, but his celebration was muted.

“I dedicate this victory to my friend Frederiek,” the 2009 champion said, moments after crossing the finishing line safely in the peleton.

The desert dust had barely settled following the tragic death of 21-year-old Frederiek Nolf from Belgium just over 24 hours earlier.

The Topsport rider had been found dead in his hotel room on Thursday at approximately 9am.

“Perhaps it would have been better to go home, but the world goes on,” Boonen continued as he acknowledged the Corniche cheers.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Boonen of Quick Step won his third Tour of Qatar title on Friday, a day after Belgian cyclist Frederiek Nolf was found dead in his Doha hotel room.

Boonen finished in 12 hours 55 minutes 25 seconds, while England’s Mark Cavendish won the sixth and final stage.

“My main focus was the yellow jersey and I dedicate this to Frederiek,” Boonen said of his countryman. “It has been a sad time for all of us.”

Boonen also won the event in 2006 and 2008. Cavendish, the Team Columbia rider, won the 75.6-mile sprint stage in 2:36:18.

Belgian team Topsport Vlaanderen Mercator said the 21-year-old Nolf was found by his hotel roommate. The cause of death wasn’t immediately known.

Mark Cavendish claimed his second stage win in the Tour of Qatar as Belgium’s Tom Boonen clinched overall victory on Friday.

Cavendish, who had won Wednesday’s fourth stage, proved the fastest man in the bunch yet again after the 121 kilometers from Sealine Beach Resort to the Doha Corniche.

The Columbia High-Road rider hit the front with 250 meters to go and crossed the line two bike lengths clear with German pair Robert Forster and Heinrich Haussler finishing second and third.

Boonen, who wrested the overall lead on Tuesday on the way to his third victory in Qatar, could not match Cavendish for pace and finished 10th to protect his race leadership.
Read the rest of this entry »

Frederiek Nolf died in his sleep last night at the Doha Ritz-Carlton in Qatar, ahead of the fifth stage of the Tour of Qatar. The Belgian of Team Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator, who would have celebrated his 22nd birthday in five days, is believed to have suffered a heart attack.

“Cycling is in mourning when you lose such a young talent, a guy like him,” said cycling legend Eddy Merckx, who is the technical sponsor for the team.

Nolf turned professional in 2008 with Topsport Vlaanderen. The Tour of Qatar was his first race of the 2009 season. He finished 90th in yesterday’s 141-kilometre stage four to Madinat Al Shamal, which Mark Cavendish won.

Directeur Sportif Jean-Pierre Heynderickx found Nolf dead this morning.

“I rode with the guys here earlier this week in Qatar. Yesterday, he was laughing and happy; he never woke up and died in his sleep,” Merckx said.
Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Cavendish back to his winning ways for 2009. Cervelo’s Young Gun Heinrich Haussler second with race leader Tom Boonen third.

Race Patron Eddy Merckx leads the peloton out of Doha through the neutral zone to the start.

Stage 4: Doha Old Souq – Madinat Al Shamal 141km
Mark Cavendish continued Britain’s dominance of the Tour of Qatar by winning Stage 4, a 141km ride from Doha Old Souq to Madinat Al Shamal. Cavendish had never ridden in the race before, and this victory has set down an earlier marker in the much anticipated battle between the Manxman and Tom Boonen in 2009.

Unlike previous days, the wind did not cause the Peloton to break up early on. Instead, a breakaway group consisting of Gatis Smukulis (Ag2r), Dominik Roels (Milram), Michael Barry (Columbia), Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Rhys Pollock (Drapac), Abdelbaset Hannachi (Doha) and Skil-Shimano’s David Deroo went clear, nonetheless fighting a strong crosswind.

Columbia’s Michael Barry and Skil’s David Deroo lead the seven adventurers.

50Km into the stage, the seven  had a lead of three minutes; this soared up to 5:30 half way into the stage. When the race direction turned into the wind, the lead evaporated at some speed. With 30km left, it was hovering around the one minute mark.

Tom Boonen & Quick Step mates at the front of affairs.

Quick Step and Cervelo – neither of whom had a rider upfront – were controlling the pace in the Peloton, who at this stage were closing in on the seven man lead group with every pedal stroke. Another change of direction bought sea winds onto the riders’ left, thus breaking the main field into several smaller groups.

Cavendish, initially, was in the second group though he had several team mates working for him. One Columbia rider who wasn’t there was Vicente Reynes, who along with Murilo Fischer (Liquigas) crashed onto a rocky hard shoulder. The latter was taken to hospital after making it to the finish in Madinat Al Shamal.

This wind was the final nail in the coffin for the escapees, who were reeled in with 22km remaining. Cavendish joined up with the leading group – containing Boonen, most of the Quick Step and many members of Cervelo –-with just five kilometres remaining.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Cavendish won his first race of 2009 with a sprint victory in the 141km fourth stage of the Tour of Qatar in Madinat al Shamal.

On a day marked by strong crosswinds, a high pace and littered with crashes in the last 15km, Cavendish looked to have again missed out on the decisive move.

But the Columbia rider was helped back to the front where he managed to outsprint race leader Tom Boonen.

The tour continues on Thursday, with a 147km stage from the Camel Race Track.

Cervelo Test Team & Roger Hammonds attack pays off in the final kilometers for victory in Al Kohr. The Desert Wind – a day of echelons that split the peloton putting paid to some’s G.C. hopes.

Caution lads, Camel crossing ahead.. photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Roger Hammond (Cervelo) made it another successful day for English riders in the Tour of Qatar, having taking stage 2 into Al Kohr and moving into the GC lead. The predicted sprint finish never materialized; a combination of strong winds and aggressive riding put an end to that to that notion.

A fourteen man group formed in the closing kilometres, including five of Hammond’s team mates. Garmin, protecting the lead of Bradley Wiggins, missed the move, and the race leader after stage one came in just shy of seven minutes after the stage winner.

Aggressive riding pays off for Roger Hammond  – Roger takes the win in style with bike lengths to spare. photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Fully aware of how the conditions would prove a salient factor, Quick Step and Cervelo set a relentless pace at the head of the Peloton, which forced its fragmentation around half way into the 134km stage that began at the Khalifa Stadium. Echelons formed, including one that contained 39 riders, who crossed the line in Al Kohr nineteen minutes and fifty six seconds in arrears.

Upfront, a fourteen man group was working cohesively, putting paid to any hopes of Wiggins retaining the race lead. Along with six members of the Cervelo team, Quick Step were represented by Tom Boonen, Steven De Jongh and Kevin Hulsmans, while Vicente Reynes (Columbia), Angelo Furlan (Lampre), Murilo Fischer (Liquigas) and Johan Van Summeren (Silence-Lotto) also made the selection for the day.

Sirotti panorama of the chase group buffeted by the wind in the Qatar desert.
photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

The stage was in the balance until the closing stages, with a chasing group containing Mark Cavendish and Filippo Pozzato attempting to bridge the gap. Columbia were caught unawares when it had formed, and had sent their riders to the front to close the gap.

Read the rest of this entry »

Britain’s triple Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins has the leader’s jersey after winning the first stage of the Tour of Qatar, a 6km time-trial.

Wiggins, riding for American team Garmin, crossed the line first in six minutes and 34 seconds, just ahead of the Netherlands’ Hans Dekkers.

Garmin also topped the team standings – for the time of the fifth rider in each team to finish – ahead of Quick Step.

The second stage, a 134km race, takes place on Monday.

“As a team we’ve put in long hours in pre-season training and it is good to see all of that effort paying off,” said Wiggins
Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Cavendish (Columbia Highroad) of Great Britain and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) of Belgium, will renew their rivalry for world’s top sprinting honors beginning Sunday in the Tour of Qatar.

Cavendish was one of the main stories of the 2008 cycling season. He had18 victories and arguably arrived as the world’s best sprinter.

Boonen, who has twice won the Tour Qatar, is the 2005 world road titlist. He has 14 Tour of Qatar stage wins while racing in five editions of the race, dating to its inception in 2002.

The six-day, 685-kilometer race, Feb. 1-6, will feature 17 teams of eight riders, including American ProTour teams Garmin-Slipstream and Columbia Highroad and U.S. Pro Continental team BMC.
Read the rest of this entry »