The second stage of the Tour of Qatar was raced like a Northern classic. Immediately after the start, some teams leveraged the windy conditions to split the peloton in several groups. Even though some parts of the field regrouped again, only a group of fifteen riders made it to the finish deciding the outcome of today's race. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) outsprinted Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Greg van Avermaet (BMC). Daniel Schorn of BORA – ARGON 18 was part of the leading group until the final kilometers and finished the race with the first chasers on rank 28. Ralf Matzka, was in the first group for long parts of the race and also finished with the first chasers.
“Given the weather conditions, everyone knew that the race will be difficult right from the start and that a bunch sprint is rather unlikely today. So, gusts of wind and sandstorms made our day. After two kilometers there were the first echelons and groups already. From this point on, one can only try to survive. Ralf raced very strongly today and he was part of the leading group. The same is true for Daniel, who rode in the front group for a long time. He had to let go the final leading group only ten, fifteen kilometers before the finish line, which is absolutely fine considering the riders’ level here. We’ll save our energy in the time trial tomorrow. There are still some sprints coming up that we want to be part of”, summarizes Andre Schulze the hectic stage.
An Individual Time Trial over 10.9 kilometers at the Lusail motorsport track will be raced on the third day. Since no time trial bikes are allowed in the Tour of Qatar, all riders will race on their road bikes against the clock.
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