Kristoff takes second Tour of Qatar win on stage 4

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Alexander Kristoff won stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar, as his Katusha team again dominated the sprint, providing him with a perfect lead out and allowing him to set up a shot at overall victory on Friday’s final stage.

Kristoff beat Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) to the line, with his teammate Jacopo Guarnieri taking third place and the final time bonus. Sam Bennett (Bora Argon 18) finished fourth and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) was fifth as the peloton split under the huge effort of the Katusha team into a crosswind in the final kilometre.

Race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) suffered a double puncture in the final 10 kilometres of the stage and, after changing a front wheel and then his bike, he lost contact with the front group. He chased hard with several teammates but became stuck in the big chase group as the LottoNL-Jumbo, BMC and then Katusha teams gave it everything at the head of the front group of 25 riders.

Boasson Hagen lost 45 seconds and his race lead. Cavendish took the gold jersey but Van Avermaet is now only two seconds back, with Kristoff fourth overall at just 9 seconds. Boasson Hagen slipped to fifth at 19 seconds.

Friday’s fifth and final stage is 114km long and finishes on the Doha Corniche. With time bonuses up for grabs in two intermediate sprints during the 10 laps of the Doha Corniche, and again at the finish, every second will help decide the overall winner of this year’s race.

"The team did a really good job in the final kilometre, putting me with really good speed into the sprint," said Kristoff in a post-race interview. "For me it was just to finish it off and keep the other guys behind me. I knew Cavendish was there but I think he was stuck a bit behind so it went perfectly for our team.

"It [the general classification] will be decided tomorrow. Cavendish is leading the race and he is not a slow man, so if it comes down to bonus seconds I think, if he's not unlucky, he will protect his lead, but it is quite open."

How it happened

Stage 4 was the longest stage in this year’s Tour of Qatar, with the riders facing 189km of racing. The stage started at the Al Zubarah Fort on the west coast of the peninsula and then completed a loop inland, with the Al Ghuwairiya the turning point for a long ride north to Madinat al Shamal on the tip of the country. After a further loop, the riders faced four laps of a 14km finishing circuit.

Fortunately for the peloton, the deserts winds were not blowing very strong today, producing a more relaxed and safer day of racing. However, the racing started fast, with the peloton splitting under the pressure and several punctures making for a hectic start.

The break of the day formed after 30km of racing with 11 riders in the move. The peloton let them go clear but then Dimension Data, BMC and Katusha lead the chase and kept the gap under two minutes. BMC split the peloton into three groups after the first intermediate sprint as the road turned right but the wind was not strong enough to create huge gaps and the peloton came back together with 90km to go.

Gretsch lead the quartet through the second intermediate sprint but they were all focused on working smoothly together rather than chasing points or time bonuses. However, the peloton was also on a roll and Dimension Data gradually pulled the four back as they rode to protect Boasson Hagen and to set up Cavendish for the sprint. The gap was just over a minute with 25km to go.

A crash saw Thomas Koep (Stölting Service Group) go down hard and raised the tension in the peloton. The LottoNL-Jumbo team also went to the front as they noticed the wind was now strong enough to cause problems for the riders fighting for position behind.

With eight kilometres to go, Boasson Hagen suddenly drifted to the back of the peloton. It was a nightmare scenario for the Norwegian: a double puncture.. He got a new front wheel relatively quickly and had teammates with him after they were told via radio. However, he then realised his rear heel was flat too and had to change bikes with a teammate and start his chase again. Mark Renshaw dragged him up to a small group and other teammates helped him with the chase but his rivals knew he was in trouble and raised the speed significantly at the head of the race. First BMC used several riders to try to help Van Avermaet gain time, then Katusha had four riders to lead out Kristoff in the final kilometres.

Cavendish sat tight on the wheels but was alone because his teammates had dropped back to help Boasson Hagen. A side wind in the final kilometre allowed Katusha to put their rivals in the gutter and so the front group split and was scattered in the wind. Cavendish stayed with the leading riders but was not on Kristoff’s wheel. He tried to make his own sprint but faded in the wind and finished out of the time bonuses. Van Avermaet was on Kristoff’s wheel but there was nothing he could do against the Norwegian’s power and Kristoff took his second stage of this year’s Tour of Qatar.

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