Haussler wins high-speed Tour of Qatar sprint

Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo) gave an early indication of his 2011 ambitions with a thrilling sprint victory on stage two of the Tour of Qatar. The Australian won a tight dual with Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) in the finishing straight to move within one second of Tom Boonen's (Quick Step) gold jersey.

Like Boonen, who took the honours the previous day, Haussler's 2010 campaign was ruined by a knee injury and he was delighted to draw a line under a difficult period.

"It's nice to get a win in, especially after last year," Haussler said afterwards. "It's good to start off in a positive way."

Haussler's win came at the expense of Daniele Bennati, who has been showing signs of strong form in Qatar this week. The Italian's confidence was reflected by the way in which his Leopard Trek team, commanded by Fabian Cancellara, seized control of what Haussler termed a chaotic finale. While HTC-Highroad, Quick Step and Garmin-Cervélo were among the teams vying for dominance at the head of the peloton, it was ultimately the Luxembourg team that led out the sprint.

"Team Leopard went on the front in the last k," Haussler said. "I was on Bennati's wheel and they pretty much did the work for me."

Race leader Boonen was also fighting for the prime position on Bennati's wheel, but Haussler held his ground and then managed to come around Bennati in the closing 100 metres to take the win in a tight finish. Russian youngster Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) came home in third place, while Boonen could only manage sixth.

"I had already used up a lot of my teammates before the sprint began," Boonen said. "My pacesetters Nikolas Maes and Andreas Stauff both had mechanical problems. Andreas tried to help lead me out even with a flat front tyre, but I had to find my own way. But that's cycling."

While Boonen has the consolation of retaining the gold jersey, albeit with just one second of an advantage over Haussler, HTC-Highroad duo Mark Cavendish and Mark Renshaw could only manage 12th and 14th on the stage, respectively. Overall, Renshaw now lies in third place, at four seconds.

An early break

Like the previous day, stage two got underway at a rapid pace, but with wind conditions rather less dangerous than on Monday, a repeat of such a fractious opening was never on the cards.

Instead, after a brief flurry of attacking, the break of the day powered clear just 7km after the start at the Camel Race Track, and the peloton showed little interest in closing it down. Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) and Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli) were the instigators of the move, and they were soon joined by the evergreen Niko Eeckhout (An Post-Sean Kelly), Jan Ghyselinck (HTC-Highroad) and Manuel Quinziato (BMC).

The quintet rapidly built up a healthy advantage, and by the 25km point, they were already 6:00 clear of the peloton. At this point, Garmin-Cervélo began to chase behind in a bid to keep tabs on the flying break, although their pursuit was tempered momentarily when Jack Bobridge took a tumble. The Australian got quickly back into the fray, however, and thereafter, Garmin-Cervélo, along with FDJ and Quick Step, never let the gap stretch out any further.

Up front, the stylish Ignatiev was doing metronomic turns on the front of the break, while the Italian champion Visconti also contributed generously to the effort. Indeed, the five men worked well together, and covered 50.8km in the first hour of racing.

However, as they rode on into the desert, with only the occasional errant camel on the roadside for company, their lead was gradually whittled down and they must have known in their heart of hearts that outsmarting the sprinters's teams was unlikely.

30km from the line, their lead was down to 3:30, and from there on in, the pace racheted upwards in the peloton behind. With 15km to go, they had just 50 seconds in hand, and when Visconti crashed out of the move soon afterward after hitting a bump in the road, the game was up.

The juncture was finally made 8km out, with Lars Boom and his Rabobank team prominent in the chase, along with Team Sky. With 4km to go, Fabian Cancellara put in a monstrous turn on the front that strung out the entire peloton and set the scene for another bunch finish.

The Swiss rider's show of strength is an ominous portent of his early season form, but ultimately it was one of his big rivals for April honours who had the most to smile about on stage two, as Heinrich Haussler streaked to his fine sprint victory.