Renshaw wins in Al Kharaitiyat

Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) took a classy sprint victory in Al Kharaitiyat to move into the overall lead of the Tour of Qatar. The Australian had too much for Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) in the finishing straight, and now leads previous gold jersey Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo) by six seconds going into the race’s final day.

So often called upon to sacrifice his own ambitions in the service of Mark Cavendish, Renshaw was afforded the opportunity to lead the line this week once it became apparent that the Manxman was not as advanced in his form as his usual lead-out man. After finishing second behind Haussler on Wednesday, Renshaw was understandably relieved to get the win.

“I don’t get the opportunity very often,” Renshaw said. “At the start of this week when I was still second on GC, the plan was to try and get a result for Cav. Luckily he’s not on the best form so that gave me an opportunity.”

In a rapid finale, Renshaw’s teammate Bernhard Eisel was hugely impressive in shutting down dangerous moves from both Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) and Bradley Wiggins (Sky), but it was once again Leopard Trek who led out the finishing sprint. They did a fine job in setting up their sprinter Daniele Bennati, who has been pedalling fluidly all week, but once again the Italian was frustrated in the finishing sprint as Renshaw came around him for the win.

Renshaw launched his sprint when he sensed Tom Boonen moving up on his shoulder. After timing his leap off Bennati’s wheel to perfection, he did well to hold off Boonen. The Belgian was lacking the sharpness he showed earlier in the week, and was ultimately beaten by Bennati for second.

“I had the perfect wheel,” Renshaw said. “I was behind Bennati and then I had a bit of a tussle with Boonen.”

Heinrich Haussler, so dominant on stage 3, was never a significant factor in the finishing sprint this time around as he finished outside the time bonuses in fourth place. He loses his overall lead to his fellow countryman Renshaw and explained that he simply didn’t have the freshness to be competitive in the closing metres.

“We worked well as a team and we did everything we could but in the finishing sprint I just didn’t have the legs to go with them,” Haussler admitted. He also expressed his admiration for the manner of Renshaw’s win.

“Mark’s getting stronger each year and I think he’s at a stage where he’s probably going to start to go for more races for himself,” Haussler said. “He proved he can win races today. He’s in good form, he was at the Tour Down Under already leading out Matt Goss. He’s a good sprinter.”

How it unfolded

While crosswinds saw the race torn asunder in the early part of stage 3, Thursday’s action began at a slightly less frenetic pace. Nonetheless, the first significant break formed just 8km into the stage, when an 11-man group featuring Tomas Vaitkus (Astana), Giovanni Visconti (Farnese Vini-Neri) and Xavier Florencio (Geox-TMC). Although they quickly built up a minute’s advantage, they were never able to slip the leash completely, and were followed by Florencio, who took the first intermediate sprint.

The day’s main break was to come a little later, when a strong 20-man group headed by the Quick Step trio of Gert Steegmans, Andreas Stauff and Kevin Van Impe forged clear. Vaitkus and Visconti were again present, along with strongmen of the calibre of Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD), Marcus Burghardt (BMC) and Gabriel Rasch (Garmin-Cervélo).

In spite of their collective strength, however, the peloton was reluctant to let the leaders get too far up the road, and their advantage remained steady at around the two-minute mark. Back in the main field, the rising pace and exposed roads were taking their toll, and by the time the break was caught 20km from the line, the peloton had been whittled down to fewer than 40 riders, with the likes of Cavendish and Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) losing touch.

Maarteen Tjallinghi (Rabobank) made a bold bit to upset the sprinters’ applecart with 12km to go and even opened a healthy 20-second gap over the chasers, but he was swept up a little over 5km later. In spite of Bernhard Eisel’s best efforts to keep a lid on attacks, Bradley Wiggins (Sky) also enjoyed a brief sally off the front in the closing stages, although the Englishman was eventually brought to heel.

Inside the red kite, it was Leopard Trek who seized the initiative, but in spite of their show of power, the Luxembourg team remains empty-handed in this Tour of Qatar. In the finishing sprint, it was Renshaw who proved the quickest, but the man he dispossessed of the gold jersey hinted that the fight for overall victory will go down to the wire.

“Tomorrow there’s still a chance as there are still 10 or even 16 seconds up for grabs,” Haussler said. “We’re still going to try and get the yellow jersey back, so hopefully it comes down to a sprint tomorrow.”