Kristoff takes his third sprint victory

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) took his third stage victory at the Tour of Qatar, beating Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) in yet another close sprint finish in Madinat Al Shamal at the northern tip of the country.

The Norwegian again started his sprint early but had the strength and speed to hold off Sagan, who emerged from his wheel in sight of the line. Sagan threw his bike at the line but came up short yet again. He has now taken two second and places and two fourth places in the Tour of Qatar sprints. He has not won a race since taking the Slovakian national title last June, despite riding the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana. Sagan's only consolation was that he took the best young rider's white jersey from Luke Rowe (Team Sky).

With Marcel Kittel still struggling after a post Tour Down Under cold affected his training, Nikias Arndt was the protected Giant-Alpecin sprinter and managed to finish third, with Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) fourth and Adam Blythe (Orica-GreenEdge) fifth in Kristoff's slipstream.

Despite being caught out and left behind by a late split and echelon, Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep) managed to fight his way back to the front group and finish 16th, in the same time as Kristoff, to retain his overall race lead. However thanks to taking yet another 10-second time bonus, Kristoff is now just 11 seconds behind the Dutchman.

Time bonuses of three, two and one second are awarded at two intermediate sprints at 73 and 90km during the final 113km stage, with ten, six and four seconds awarded to the leading three riders at the finish. Every second will count during the last stage to the Doha Corniche.

“The team brought me to the line perfectly,” Kristoff told the media at the finish of the stage.

“I wasn’t feeling great today and I was suffering. I didn’t think that I could win but at the end the team did a great leadout and they managed to take control even if we were lacking a few guys. I started in a perfect way but I knew that Sagan was looking fresh and on my wheel.”

“Today the team was strong at the end and guys in the pack were tired because of the hard pace. The team brought me perfectly and we believed we could win.”

Early attacks

The 153km stage was always going to be a battle for every second and a course that looped around the north of the peninsula and covered two 13km finishing circuits, offered plenty of twists and turns and chances for echelons.

There were attack virtually from the start, as Etixx-QuickStep made their intentions clear, with the peloton splitting into echelons and groups, as the stronger teams put their rivals in the gutter and made them suffer. A natural selection occurred quickly with second-placed overall Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) caught out in the early shake out. Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) was also in the chase group as the race rolled along at 50km/h.

A long chase followed and Bodnar’s group finally managed to make contact with the head of the race after a hectic 60km of racing. As the riders headed north, five riders got away after the peloton settled down. Ben Hermans (BMC), Marco Haller (Katusha), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Asana) and Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) gained 2:30, enough time to make Hayman the virtual leader for a spell, but the big-name teams soon began to pull them back. The junction came with one final 13km left lap to cover.

A sprint seemed certain but then a further change in direction sparked another attack and another echelon, this time with Katusha and others putting Etixx-QuickStep and Terpstra on the ropes. Kristoff had three teammates to help drive the pace and put the rest in the gutter. Tom Boonen was up there for Etixx-QuickStep but Terpstra missed the move. The gap grew quickly as the kilometres counted down but with Sagan sitting on with two teammates and a final change in direction helping the chasers, the peloton came back together in sight of the final kilometre.

Several teams tried to control the sprint but Katusha and Kristoff again ruled the roost, starting his sprint early and holding off Sagan and everyone else. 

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