Tour of Qatar - Spoiler

[Keith Oates]

With little or no wind during the stage it wasn't surprising to see Boonen take the stage but finishing at a speed of 72 Km/hr indicates that he may just of been trying quite hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Skip Madness]

Every time Magnus Backstedt has been in the commentary box I think he's been excellent. Carlton Kirby has also been good in this race - he'll have to keep it up to make amends for his Valverde/Szmyd error at the Dauphiné last year but he's sounding more knowledgeable than usual; and regardless of his race-reading skills, as a sounding board for good conversation he's pretty fair value.

As for the race itself, they should just make each stage about 15-20km long since that's where any interesting stuff happens.

 

[Keith Oates]

Every time Magnus Backstedt has been in the commentary box I think he's been excellent. Carlton Kirby has also been good in this race - he'll have to keep it up to make amends for his Valverde/Szmyd error at the Dauphiné last year but he's sounding more knowledgeable than usual; and regardless of his race-reading skills, as a sounding board for good conversation he's pretty fair value.

As for the race itself, they should just make each stage about 15-20km long since that's where any interesting stuff happens.

From a spectator point of view you're probably correct but there is a lot of effort, tactics etc., which are not so obvious, going on throught out the race and they usually have an affect on final the result!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rich p]

Apart from the stage where the breakaway has probably decided the result. It's generally a training camp for sprint lead-outs though!

 

[Keith Oates]

rich p, you are also right in what you say but if you miss the right break, as in stage 2 this year, having a good sprint lead out is a bit superfluous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Keith Oates]

Boonen takes his second stage win and it seems some well thought out strategy paid off in getting the win. The win also indicates that his form is about right for getting some good results in the one day classics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Keith Oates]

So the race is over and the overall winner is Wouter Mol, Francesco Chicchi took the final stage ahead of most of the recognised sprinters. At least the race has kept some interest going for the past few days and no doubt a lot of the pro's gained some good training experience, in particular team Sky who had some success on top of the training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Sky looked like they have a lot of work to do, but I think they are doing the right thing (which was really simply to win the TTT and use the rest as training). Peaking at the Tour of Qatar is not advisable!

 

[rich p]

Strange stage today in some ways. Sky took it up too far out (3K) as did Quickstep, then Cervelo who put the hammer down early and everyone was already on the limit to allow Chichi to make up a huge gap.
Work in progress for the lead out trains.

 

[accountantpete]

Don't know what to make of Chichi's sprint - either the leaders all blew up or he produced a Cavendish like sprint to overtake about 20 riders in the last 200 yards. One to watch this year.

 

[Skip Madness]

Francesco Chicchi always has a good start to the season but it usually tails off somewhat after the spring, same as with Francesco Ginanni. Superb sprint today, pure class in power, concentration and bike-handling.