Tour of Qatar **SPOILER**

[perplexed]

Shame about Adam Blythe's chuffin puncture in the last couple of Ks...

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Boonen takes the win in stage 4, it seems the wind played a big part into today's stage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Usually, the wind is pretty much the only interesting thing about the Tour of Qatar! Pretty crazy finish today though - from a tactical point of view, it was interesting to see that despite losing Cav in the split, Sky still had 3 riders in the Top 10, and Flecha is now third overall. I guess they are going to go with multiple aims throughout the year and not just in the TdF - the more they work this way, the more it might seem possible to contest different competitions in the GTs. Boonen really seems to want it this year. I suspect that part of this comes from being the also-ran to Gilbert as Belgium's top cyclist last season. He isn't the kind of guy who likes being second best.

 

[Herzog]

Boonen really seems to want it this year. I suspect that part of this comes from being the also-ran to Gilbert as Belgium's top cyclist last season. He isn't the kind of guy who likes being second best.

Yep, his sprint was great today. Would have been interesting to see Blythe in the mix, but that's racing.

 

[moxey]

Was gutted for Blythe, he was the only one that matched Cancellaras move.
Would've been interesting to see how it would've turned out although Boonen is looking tough to beat.

 

[bennydorano]

And apparently he's not yet 100% well. Renshaw really didn't look like he could compete here. And afterwards in an interview Cav said that the only other sprinter he's afraid of is Matt Goss... could be psychology, but Cav is usually (painfully) honest about this kind of thing.

With the weight Griepel has lost and the way he's started the year I'd be more worried about him.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

With the weight Griepel has lost and the way he's started the year I'd be more worried about him.

He probably is, but I think his strategy with Griepel is to dismiss and belittle him, whereas with Goss he may think praise will disarm him. Sprinting is a lot of mind games...

 

[perplexed]

Cav takes stage 5.

 

[beastie]

Cav looks very fast, today he won easy. He also looks a fair bit trimmer than this time last year. I think he wants everything this year, MSR, green Jersey, Olympic gold and as many wins as possible in the rainbow jersey.

 

[raindog]

today's win was pretty impressive


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wulqxQGwx9s

 

[Flying_Monkey]

It was impressive. All the more so because he basically did it on his own, with no train whatsoever. I mean, okay, Flecha busted things up a bit to disrupt other team plans, but really, after that, he did everything himself.

 

[Keith Oates]

That was one very good win, Cav is showing that he's still the one to beat in the sprints. Roll on San Remo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rich p]

Cav came down in the sprint -- slightly baulked by Kluge but at least he didn't break anything.

The Sky train was non-existent again apart from a sterling effort from the ever-reliable Eisel and Flecha. Work to do for Sky.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Cav came down in the sprint -- slightly baulked by Kluge but at least he didn't break anything.

The Sky train was non-existent again apart from a sterling effort from the ever-reliable Eisel and Flecha. Work to do for Sky.

Their DS was quoted today (before the stage) as saying that the only thing he thinks they messed up was Stage 4 when they let Cav get caught behind the split in the bunch, which lost him (and Sky) the chance of an overall win. I don't think Sky were trying to work with a traditional train in this event and today was just bad luck for Cav, nothing else.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Their DS was quoted today (before the stage) as saying that the only thing he thinks they messed up was Stage 4 when they let Cav get caught behind the split in the bunch, which lost him (and Sky) the chance of an overall win. I don't think Sky were trying to work with a traditional train in this event and today was just bad luck for Cav, nothing else.

One of the advantages of being able to run a dominant train is that it can keep the key man/men out of trouble, htc showed that if the team is strong enough, you can help make your own luck in this game...

 

[accountantpete]

One of the guys tried to keep him blocked in. Cav tried to scare him into making room and clipped the guy in front.