Tour of Qatar: Pieters wins stage 2

Another day, another crosswind and another Giant-Shimano victory. Just like her teammate Kirsten Wild the previous afternoon, Amy Pieters claimed the win on stage 2 of Ladies Tour of Qatar and moved into the gold jersey to boot, as the Dutch squad's mastery of the desert conditions once again proved total.

Pieters was one of four Giant-Shimano riders in the day's decisive 21-woman echelon, which formed after just three kilometres of racing. While her primary task was to help Wild in the event of a group finish, Pieters sensed the danger when her fellow countryman Anna van der Breggen sparked the winning move on the final lap of the finishing circuit, with 11 kilometres to go.

Pieters was adroit in policing a break that also included Charlotte Becker (Wiggle-Honda) and Inga Cilvinaite (Rusvelo). With Wild sitting comfortably in the group behind, Pieters held something of a trump card, and she played her hand wisely, working just enough to ensure the break's cohesion, but not so much as to damage her or her team's chances.

"I was in the last wheel because I had Kirsten in the group behind me, so I was waiting for the sprint," Pieters said afterwards. "If the group came back, then that was also ok because I had Kirsten in the yellow jersey behind me."

The finale took place over four laps of an exposed 14-kilometre circuit, and it had appeared that the wind would discourage any solo attacks, but Van der Breggen - whose contribution was so crucial to Marianne Vos' world championship victory in Florence in September - timed her effort well by jumping clear with the wind at her back, and found willing reinforcements in Becker, Cilvinaite and Pieters shortly afterwards.

The quartet soon built up a lead of 40 seconds, and given the lack of a bona fide sprinter in the Orica-AIS ranks, the Australian squad was understandably reluctant to take up the reins of the chase behind, lest they tow Wild, Chloe Hosking (Hitec Products) and Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) to the line.

The cross-headwind meant that the finishing straight seemed an interminable one, but Pieters clearly had the freshest legs of the lead group, and she ground out a gap that she would never relent. Indeed, such was the level of fatigue at the end of a tough day that Pieters crossed the line all of three seconds ahead of Van der Breggen, while Becker took third.

Wild pipped the redoubtable Hosking to the sprint for fifth, 27 seconds down, but thanks to the time bonus for stage victory, Pieters had done enough to claim the overall lead. She now leads her teammate Wild by seven seconds, with Hosking a further 11 seconds back in third, and Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) fourth at 28 seconds.

"It's good for the team because we have first and second in the general classification," said Pieters. Wild's sprint and pedigree in Qatar means that she remains the favourite for overall honours, though Pieters was coy about how Giant-Shimano would play its cards over the next two days. "I don't know, I think we're both really good. I just hope the jersey stays in the team."

Split

There was already a sense of foreboding in the peloton as it gathered for the start in the shadow of Al Zubara Fort. A relatively benign breeze had wreaked havoc on the opening day, and here on Qatar's northern coast, the gusts were considerably stiffer. Indeed, it only took three kilometres for day's decisive split to take shape. In a mirror of stage 1, the Orica-AIS team was again to the fore in forcing the issue in the crosswind. When the dust had settled, a 21-rider echelon had opened a 30-second lead, with the rest of the peloton scattered across the road.

"I expected it to break up early because there was the sidewind," Wild said. "I just think we were just lucky that there were four in the front. We didn't do the job, it was GreenEdge who started it but we directly went in it."

With riders of the quality of Pieters, Wild, Hosking, Johansson, Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS), Tiffany Cromwell (Specialized-Lululemon) and Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda) in the front group, it was clear, even at this early point, that this was the race-winning move.

The grand absentees from the front echelon were Shelley Olds (Ale-Cipollini) - who lay second overall as the day began - and Lizzie Armitstead (Boel-Dolmans) - who had looked comfortable at the head of the race on Tuesday. "I expected her in the front as she's normally very strong in these kind of races," Wild said of Olds.

A moment's inattentiveness in the desert can prove very costly, however, and by the 30 kilometre mark, Olds, Armitstead and the chasers were already 2:45 down. That gap extended to 3:55 by the 50-kilometre mark, and then over five minutes by the time the 21 leaders hit the finishing circuit for the first time.

Wild beat Hosking to the full complement of bonus seconds at the first sprint, and gained another second on the Australian when they contested the second sprint as they took the bell for the final lap. At that point, given the conditions, another group finish seemed inevitable. Things would not pan out quite like that, but neither Wild nor her Giant-Shimano team will be upset with the late change to the script.