The Tour of Qatar is just around the corner with sixteen teams prepared to take the start. Last year's winner Tom Boonen (Quick Step) will be there to defend his title, using the race as part of his preparation to secure a record equaling fourth win in Paris-Roubaix.
This year's race will also see a motivated Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions), as he tries to step his game up a notch to challenge HTC-Columbia leader Mark Cavendish for sprint superiority. Cavendish was forced to miss the event this year in order to recover from tooth surgery. That means that Farrar will have to wait a little longer for the pair to go head-to-head, so he can see just how much he has progressed in the off-season. The HTC-Columbia team will instead have Austrian Bernhard Eisel as their captain.
Also in the hunt for the bunch sprints will be the Liquigas duo of Daniele Bennati and Francesco Chicchi, the latter showing form with his stage one victory at the Tour de San Luis earlier this month. Team Milram's Gerald Ciolek will look to build off of the momentum from Thomas Rohregger's win in the King of the Mountains at the Tour Down Under, in a year where the team must work to replace their title sponsor.
Edvald Boasson Hagen will be making his much anticipated debut with the new British Team Sky in Qatar. Last year the Norwegian's highlights included winning Semi-Classic Gent-Wevelgem, a stage in the Giro d'Italia, and an amazing performance at the Tour of Britain, winning four stages, the points classification and the overall. He also won stages and the overall in the Eneco Tour of Benelux and the Tour of Pologne. The 22-year-old is one of cycling's brightest talents, and has shown the potential to evolve into one of cycling's greats.
Saxo Bank's Fabian Cancellara and Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins will also be taking the start and add to their team's chances for the opening team time trial. Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) and Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), like Boonen, will both begin their build up for what they hope will be a successful Spring Classics campaign, and could feature with a stage win.
Other notables for the six day stage race are Saxo Bank's Sebastian Haedo, Vacansoleil's Romain Feillu, who will be making his debut with the team, and Team Katusha's Danio Napolitano and Filippo Pozzato.
The Qatari race runs from February 7th to the 12th.
Teams for the 2010 Tour of Qatar:
AG2R
BMC Racing
Cervélo TestTeam
Garmin-Transitions
HTC-Columbia
Liquigas-Doimo
Livestrong Trek
Omega Pharma-Lotto
Quick Step
Saur-Sojasun
Saxo Bank
Team Katusha
Team Milram
Team Sky
Topsport
Vacansoleil