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3rd Doha International GP - 1.1
Doha, Qatar, January 27, 2006
2005 Results Results Past winners
Boonen opens his account early in '06
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In his first major race as world champion, Quick Step's Tom Boonen won the 108-kilometre Doha International Grand Prix held in Qatar, clearly beating Phonak's Robert Hunter and Milram's Erik Zabel in the final sprint. It was Zabel's debut for the Milram squad, and the veteran German sprinter took a solid third place after plenty of six-day racing in the off-season. It was Boonen's first victory with the rainbow jersey, and chances are that it won't be the young Belgian's last in 2006.
"Today everybody has seen a great team," explained Boonen at the finish. "Our team is really strong and united - this means that we have worked well during the winter and the training camp in Calpe."
Boonen had tried his luck with an attack midway through the race after his team had used the strong crosswinds to break the peloton in two. Boonen hit the last kilometre with teammates Matteo Tosatto and Steven De Jongh putting him in the best position to launch his powerful sprint, and it worked. "It was a beautiful team victory today," said a happy Boonen after the finish. "When you win on the first occasion, everything is alright and the morale grows, even though we are aware that it's only the beginning of the season and the important tests are still quite distant," he continued.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) ready to roll for season 2006
- Fabian Cancellara (CSC) is happy with his new team
- Riders from Unibet.com hang out
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) makes sure everything is aligned
- Skil-Shimano riders warm up
- Team CSC waits for the start
- Erik Zabel and the Milram boys
- Erik Dekker (Rabobank) relaxes
- Boonen in action during the Doha GP
- The peloton races through the streets of Doha
- Qatari fans cheer on the riders
- Racing along the beach front
- Silhouettes in the desert
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) comfortably beats Robert Hunter and Erik Zabel to win the Doha GP
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) is congratulated by teammate Kevin Hulsmans after winning
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) is told he has to report to the podium
- The podium (L to R): Robert Hunter (2nd), Tom Boonen (1st) and Erik Zabel (3rd)
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) with his winner's trophy
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) and a Qatari cycling official with his trophy
- Tom Boonen (Quick.Step-Innergetic) thinks this might exceed the weight limit on the flight home
Results - 108 km
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step Innergetic 2.26.24 (44.262 km/h) 2 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC 3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 4 Leon Van Bon (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto 5 Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano 6 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 7 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 8 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 9 Guido Trenti (USA) Quick Step Innergetic 10 Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria 11 Christophe Detilloux (Bel) Française des Jeux 12 Artur Gajek (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Akud 13 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 14 Massimiliano Mori (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 15 Evert Verbist (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 16 Cyrille Monnerais (Fra) Française des Jeux 17 Alexandr Dymovskikh (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 18 René Weissinger (Ger) Skil-Shimano 19 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 20 Hervé Duclos-Lassalle (Fra) Cofidis 21 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Française des Jeux 22 Aivaras Baranauskas (Ltu) Agritubel 23 Nick Ingels (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 24 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 25 Carlo Westphal (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Akud 26 Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Unibet.com 27 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Ceramiche Panaria 28 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 29 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux 30 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) Team CSC 31 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano 32 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step Innergetic 33 Hans Dekkers (Ned) Agritubel 34 Thomas Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 35 Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez (Spa) Agritubel 36 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française des Jeux 37 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 38 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria 39 Miguel Angel Rubiano (Col) Ceramiche Panaria 40 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 41 Benoit Sinner (Fra) Agritubel 42 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 43 Camille Bouquet (Fra) Unibet.com 44 Michiel Elijzen (Ned) Cofidis 45 Koen Barbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 46 Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 47 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 48 Nico Mattan (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 49 Kasper Klostergaard (Den) Team CSC 50 Björn Schröder (Ger) Team Milram 51 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano 52 Tristan Valentin (Fra) Cofidis 53 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Française des Jeux 54 Rik Reinerink (Ned) Skil-Shimano 55 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 56 Sebastian Siedler (Ger) Team Milram 57 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC 58 Christopher Horner (USA) Davitamon-Lotto 59 José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Agritubel 60 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 61 Lubor Tesar (Cze) Team Wiesenhof-Akud 62 Tim Klinger (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Akud 63 Bart Vanheule (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 64 Moises Aldape Chavez (Mex) Ceramiche Panaria 0.07 65 Matteo Priamo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria 66 Thorwald Veneberg (Ned) Rabobank 67 Gerben Löwik (Ned) Rabobank 68 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick Step Innergetic 69 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank 70 Volker Ordowski (Ger) Gerolsteiner 71 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 72 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 73 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 74 Sergio Marinangeli (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 75 Stefan Cohnen (Ned) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 76 Robert Hunter (RSA) Phonak Hearing Systems 77 Jérémy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 78 Felix Odebrecht (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Akud 79 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Team CSC 0.10 80 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Milram 81 Luca Ascani (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 82 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step Innergetic 83 Martin Pedersen (Den) Team CSC 0.13 84 Frank Hoj (Den) Gerolsteiner 85 Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 86 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis 87 Geert Omloop (Bel) Unibet.com 88 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 89 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) Unibet.com 90 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Française des Jeux 91 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank 92 Jukka Vastaranta (Fin) Rabobank 93 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 94 Uros Murn (Slo) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.16 95 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Phonak Hearing Systems 96 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team CSC 0.22 97 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Akud 0.28 98 Rene Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner 99 Arno Wallaard (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.37 100 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick Step Innergetic 0.45 101 Christoph Meschenmoser (Ger) Skil-Shimano 0.49 102 Martin Müller (Swi) Team Milram 103 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Team Milram 104 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Phonak Hearing Systems 105 David Vitoria (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 106 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Phonak Hearing Systems 107 Ben Johnson (Aus) Agritubel 0.51 108 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Milram 1.09 109 David Boucher (Fra) Unibet.com 1.36 110 Erwin Thijs (Bel) Unibet.com 111 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) Unibet.com 112 Fabien Patanchon (Fra) Française des Jeux 1.42 113 Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Agritubel 114 Christian Leben (Ger) Team Wiesenhof-Akud 1.44 115 Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis 1.46 116 Damien Monier (Fra) Cofidis 117 Luis Laverde (Col) Ceramiche Panaria 118 Servais Knaven (Ned) Quick Step Innergetic 1.48 119 Kévin Van Impe (Bel) Quick Step Innergetic 120 Gabriele Colombo (Ita) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 121 Martin Mares (Cze) Naturino-Sapore di Mare 122 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen 2.04 123 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 124 Nicholas Roche (Irl) Cofidis 125 Florian Stalder (Swi) Phonak Hearing Systems 3.15 126 Paul Martens (Ger) Skil-Shimano 4.23 127 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Ceramiche Panaria 4.41 DNF Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank DNF Fred Rodriguez (USA) Davitamon-Lotto DNF Mathieu Heijboer (Ned) Cofidis DNF Gilles Canouet (Fra) Agritubel DNF Ilya Chernyshov (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec DNF Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec DNF Alexey Lyalko (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec DNF Alexey Zaitsev (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec Courtesy of Guy Dedieu
Past winners
2005 Robert Hunter (RSA) Phonak 2004 Simone Cadamuro (Ita) De Nardi
