Gallery: Behind the scenes at Tour of Qatar

The Tour of Qatar. On the surface, it's a nice, warm early season race on flat roads with relatively short stages. It is a perfect way to tune up for the Spring Classics, to get some speed in the legs, to get in the rhythm of racing. Peek behind the curtain, as Cyclingnews photographer Jonathan Devich has done, and a different story emerges.

All of this takes place in front of a society that is familiar with the race, but still not quite buying into it en masse. The result is miles and miles of endless highway, peppered only by rocks and sand dunes until the race hurtles back toward the gleaming, mirrored glass of the big city.