Tour of Qatar: Kristoff strikes again in Mesaieed

In the absence of crosswinds, attacks and echelons but a strong head wind for much of the stage, the sprinters dominated the fourth stage of the Tour of Qatar with Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) taking his second stage win at this year's race with a perfectly timed surge to the line.

Kristoff beat Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin), with Adam Blythe (Astana) fourth and Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) sixth, with the other sprinters filling out the top 10 after a hectic finale.

Kristoff got a late but well-timed leadout from his Katusha teammates and started his sprint early on the long finishing straight. That gave him the advantage of choosing the best line, while his rivals fought in his slipstream. Sagan stayed tucked on his wheel until making a late surge but he was a wheel length behind and is still looking for his first win in Tinkoff-Saxo colours.

“In the last 10 kilometres everyone was fresh and I ended up losing my leadout many times but in the end they managed to put me in a good position and I was just able to hold them off,” Kristoff said recalling every instant of the sprint.

“Maybe I went a little bit early but I felt like I had to go otherwise someone would jump from behind, so I started easy and then went harder. At the end I was so tired and Sagan was coming fast but I was just able to hold him off. I could see him on the left and I wasn’t sure that I won it.”

Photo: ASO

Surprisingly Arndt and not Kittel was the protected sprinter at Giant-Alpecin. The German team confirmed that Kittel was not feeling 100 per cent and so gave Arndt his chance. Andrea Guardini was also in the mix in the fast sprint but Blythe took the sheltered line along the barriers, closing the door on the on-form Italian, who eased up and finished eighth.

Race leader Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep) finished safely in the peloton, in 30th place, and so kept his gold leader's jersey. However, he finished on the wrong side of a split in the peloton and so lost five seconds to Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo), who is second overall at just six seconds. Ian Stannard (Team Sky) is third at 12 seconds.

Missing from the sprint results were Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), who was only 36th after being delayed by a late crash and lots of fighting for wheels. Fellow Frenchman Arnaud Demare (FDJ) was only 17th, with Edvald Boasson Hagen and Theo Bos (MTN-Qhubeka) also out of the results and finishing five seconds down.

An early start and fast finish

The 165.5km stage started some 70 minutes early, with organisers worried that the peloton would struggle with the strong headwinds and possible sand storms.

The early start perhaps left the peloton sleepy, with Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana), Jaco Venter (MTN-Qhubeka) and Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen) quickly allowed to get away when the flag dropped. They worked well together in the first hour, when they had a tailwind and covered 50.2km in the first hour. Their gap stabalised at around 3:30, with Etixx-QuickStep controlling the chase and leading the peloton for much of the day, with some help from FDJ later on.

Several crashes made the peloton nervous in the finale of the stage, with different teams trying to control the leadout. Amongst the riders that went down during the stage were Lars Boom (Astana), Theo Bos (MTN-Qhubeka) and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky). All of them were not seriously hurt and finished the stage.

Tinkoff-Saxo, Movistar and FDJ all massed on the front with Orica-GreenEdge taking control with four kilometres to go as the riders dived around a series of roundabouts. However, they went to the front too early and were forced to back off and accept help from other teams.

Katusha and Kristoff saved their legs for the final long, straight kilometre. The wide road made it hard to line out the peloton but the Russian squad injected some order and then Kristoff made his early move. It is still only February but he has the speed and ability to go long and hard, just as he did to win Milan-San Remo in 2014.

Thursday's 153km fifth stage is from Al Zubarah Fort to Madinat Al Shamal in the north of Qatar. The stage route involves several changes of direction that could inspire attacks and cause echelons, putting Terpstra's lead under pressure. It will be another day of desert racing.

Photos: Tim De Waele

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