The Tour of Qatar starts with an individual prologue time trial for the first time in its nine-year history, having begun with a short team time trial since 2007. Its 2km length might not be enough to have a major effect on the overall standings at the end of the race, but it should be enough for World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara to give the new Leopard Trek team its first victory.
The rest of the race should be given over to the sprinters, as with virtually no geographic features on the course it’s very rare that a breakaway is ever successful. Most of the riders that have been contesting the Santos Tour Down Under will be stopping off in Qatar on their way back to Europe, and they will be meeting many of those who stayed behind.
Tom Boonen (Quick Step) holds most of the records for the race; he has the highest number of overall wins (3), the highest number of points jerseys (5) and the highest number of stage wins (18!). The Belgian sprinter will be starting his season with the race and will be looking for a morale boosting start to 2011 after such an unlucky 2010. Boonen will also have new Italian teammate Francesco Chicchi alongside him, and prodigal son lead out man Gert Steegmans to look after him in the last kilometre.
Mark Cavendish (HTC-highroad) will be the man to beat, as usual, although it was his Aussie teammate Goss that took two victories Down Under last week.
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) is due to start his first Tour of Qatar since 2007, when he scored three second places behind an unstoppable Boonen. The Italian may well be a late withdrawal, or at least a little off his best though, having withdrawn from this weekend’s Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria with bronchitis.
What will be interesting to see is how well Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini-Neri) fares against such quality opposition. The 21-year-old is currently unstoppable in the Tour of Langkawi, having won three of the six stages so far, but against less illustrious names as these.
Missing from the list of starters is last year’s winner Wouter Mol, whose Vacansoleil-DCM team is not in the race this year.
Tour of Qatar, February 6th to 11th
Prologue – Doha Cultural Village, 2km
Stage 1 – Dukhan to Al Khor Corniche, 145.5km
Stage 2 – Camel Race Track to Doha Golf Club, 135.5km
Stage 3 – Al Wakra to Messaieed, 150.5km
Stage 4 – West Bay Lagoon to Al Kharaitiyat, 153.5km
Stage 5 – Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche, 128.5km
Provisional start list:
Quick Step
Kevin Van Impe
Gert Steegmans
Andreas Stauff
Frederique Robert
Nikolas Maes
Francesco Chicchi
Marco Bandiera
Tom Boonen
Reserves:
Julien Vermote
Andy Cappelle
Director sportif: Wilfried Peeters
HTC-Highroad
Gatis Smukulis
Mark Renshaw
Patrick Gretsch
Jan Ghyselinck
Bernhard Eisel
Matthew Brammeier
Lars Bak
Mark Cavendish
Reserves
Frantisek Rabon
Matthew Goss
Director Sportif: Valerio Piva
Lampre-ISD
Balint Szeghalmi
Adriano Malori
Dmytro Krivtsov
Vitaliy Kondrut
Danilo Hondo
Matteo Bono
Grega Bole
Alessandro Petacchi
Reserves:
Enrico Magazzini
Denys Kostyuk
Director Sportif: Fabrizio Bontempi
Leopard Trek
Wouter Weylandt
Davide Vigano
Tom Stamsnijder
Joost Posthuma
Stuart O'Grady
Dominic Klemme
Daniele Bennati
Fabian Cancellara
Reserves:
Anders Lund
Stephan Denifl
Director Sportif: Kim Anderson
Katusha
Stijn Vandenbergh
Nikolay Trussov
Luca Paolini
Aliaksandr Kuchynski
Mikhail Ignatiev
Leif Hoste
Denis Galimzyanov
Filippo Pozzato
Reserves:
Maxime Vantomme
Joaquim Rodriguez
Director Sportif: Serge Parsani
Skil-Shimano
Tom Veelers
Ronan Van Zandbeck
Albert Timmer
Martin Reimer
Roger Kluge
Simon Geschke
Koen De Kort
Kenny Van Hummel
Reserves:
Marcel Kittel
Roy Curvers
Director Sportif: Merljn Zeeman
Rabobank
Maarten Wynants
Dennis Van Winden
Maarten Tjallingii
Bram Tankink
Rick Flens
Graeme Brown
Lars Boom
Theo Bos
Reserves:
Michael Matthews
Matti Breschel
Director Sportif: Nico Verhoeven
Team Sky
Ian Stannard
Lars-Peter Nordhaug
Jeremy Hunt
Juan Antonio Flecha
Alex Dowsett
Russel Downing
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
Bradley Wiggins
Reserves:
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Davide Appollonio
Director Sportif: Steven De Jongh
Garmin-Cervélo
Sep Vanmarcke
Johan Van Summeren
Gabriel Rasch
Travis Meyer
Andreas Klier
Roger Hammond
Jack Bobridge
Heinrich Haussler
Reserve:
Ramunas Navardauskas
Director Sportif: Johnny Weltz
Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
Jelle Wallays
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
Preben Van Hecke
Geert Steurs
Pieter Serry
Stijn Neirynck
Kris Boeckmans
Michael Van Staeyen
Reserves:
Jarl Salomein
Stijn Joseph
Director Sportif: Hans De Clercq
BMC Racing
Danilo Wyss
Greg Van Avermaet
Michael Schar
Manuel Quinziato
Karsten Kroon
Alexander Kristoff
Marcus Burghardt
Taylor Phinney
Reserves:
Jeff Louder
Martin Kohler
Director Sportif: John Lelangue
FDJ
Wesley Sulzberger
Dominique Rollin
Yoann Offredo
Matthieu Ladagnous
Frédéric Guesdon
Anthony Geslin
Sandy Casar
William Bonnet
Reserves:
Mickael Delage
Olivier Bonnaire
Director Sportif: Martial Gayant
Astana
Tomas Vaitkus
Mirco Lorenzetto
Tanel Kangert
Valentin Iglinskiy
Andriy Grivko
Maxim Gourov
Simon Clarke
Assan Bazayev
Reserves:
Alexandre Vinokourov
Roman Kireyev
Director Sportif: Laurenzo Lapage
Geox-TMC
Daniele Ratto
Matteo Pelucchi
Marko Kump
Dmitriy Kozontchuk
David Gutierrez
Xavier Florencio
Marco Corti
Thomas Alberio
Reserves:
Denis Menchov
Gianpaolo Cheula
Director Sportif: Stefano Zanini
Farnese Vini-Neri
Patrik Sinkewitz
Davide Ricci Bitti
Andrea Guardini
Leonardo Giordani
Oscar Gatto
Francesco Failli
Diego Caccia
Giovanni Visconti
Reserves:
Gianluca Mirenda
Pier Paolo De Negri
Director Sportif: Luca Scinto
An Post-Sean Kelly
Mark Mcnally
Andrew Fenn
Maxim De Busschere
Kevin Claeys
Mark Cassidy
Sam Bennett
Gediminas Bagdonas
Nico Eeckhout
Reserves:
Dries Hollanders
Kees Heytens
Director Sportif: Kurt Bogaerts