Boom blasts to victory

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Lars Boom (Rabobank) made the most of a technical prologue course in the Doha Cultural Village to take the first golden jersey of the 2011 Tour of Qatar. The Dutchman is equally adept as a cyclo-cross rider as he is against the watch, and he combined his bike handling skills and speed to fine effect on the tricky 2.5km circuit.

World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek), the default favourite for time trials of all shapes and sizes, had to settle for second best on a course that featured cobbles, technical corners and strong winds. Dutchman Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano) put in a fine ride to finish third, while Team Sky had a solid opening thanks to Juan Antonio Flecha (fourth) and Alex Dowsett (fifth). That ride gave Dowsett the best young rider’s jersey, while Rabobank won the team prize.

“I'm very happy,” Boom said after learning that Cancellara had failed to beat his time. “I didn't expect this, although I had a very good winter.”

Boom’s victory was built largely on his ability to accelerate explosively out of the circuit’s twelve bends, although he admitted that he took risks on the entry to a number of corners.

“Of course you have to take risks in the prologue, you gain seconds that way,” he explained.

While Boom toasted victory, Fabian Cancellara was left to rue the circuit’s sinuous nature. Resplendent in his rainbow bands, the Swiss rider looked as imperious as ever when he powered down the starting ramp, but a confused approach to a bend 600m from the line seemed to break his rhythm somewhat. However, with a gap of four seconds between him and Boom at the finish, it seems that the Dutchman’s bike-handling and technical ability ultimately won through.

Alex Dowsett pulled on the white jersey for best young rider after day one, and he was surprised to have beaten so many big names in his first ever race as a professional.

“There’s a high calibre of riders here, I certainly didn’t expect this,” he told Cyclingnews. “But I’ve been training and coming into good form for this time of year.”

Flecha’s fast start

The day’s early pace-setter was Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky), who put in a fine performance in spite of a barrier being blown into his path by the wind in the finishing straight. The Spaniard managed to stay upright initially before falling after crossing the line, but emerged unscathed and in the provisional lead.

His time was to survive at the head of the leader board for most of the afternoon, until the pre-race favourites began to take the start. Boom was the first man to get inside Flecha’s time, and the Dutchman was then forced to wait and watch time trialists of the calibre of Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervélo) try and fail to get close to his mark.

Following his world record-breaking individual pursuit ride in Australia last week, much was expected from the in-form Bobridge, and his relatively modest placing (13th at 10 seconds) was indicative of the particular nature of the circuit. Similarly, Wiggins’ 29th place finish will not have worried him unduly on a course that did not seem best-suited to his talents.

With such a short prologue, the sprinters knew that they could limit their losses and stay firmly in contention for overall victory in the race. However, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) will have to settle for stage wins this week after a high-speed crash. The Manxman went down hard midway through the prologue and then lost further time when he had to wait for a new bike. He would finish the race with several cuts and bruises, in last place, 1:13 down, and was passed by Tom Boonen (Quick Step) in the closing metres.

Boonen’s seventh place finish means he is the best placed sprinter after the prologue, although Cavendish’s teammate Mark Renshaw (12th at nine seconds) also rode a fine opening time trial. After crossing the line, the Boonen was simply glad to have the first day of racing out of the way.

“It’s always hard to do a prologue like this for your first day of competition, but it will be better in the next couple of days,” he told Cyclingnews after crossing the line. “It was really hard to find a good rhythm, you were always bouncing from the left to the right and the wind was blowing from all sides, so it wasn’t easy to find a good pace.”

While Boonen seems well-poised to be a threat later in the week, for now the honours belong to Lars Boom, who will not give up his lead willingly: “I think tomorrow will bring a lot of wind so we will try to defend the jersey,” he said.

After his fellow countrywoman Ellen Van Dijk took the Ladies Tour of Qatar last week thanks to her mastery of the strong Qatari winds, Boom and Rabobank will surely be a significant force in the days to come.

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