Today the third stage of the Tour of Qatar took place – an individual time trial of 10,9 km near the Lusail motorcycle international circuit. Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff started the race as the GC leader. He finished 26th and dropped to 6th in the overall classification.

"Tour of Qatar is my first race and I came here to get some racing practice and, why not, to try to win some stages. Yesterday I won a stage and I am really happy with it. We will see in the next days what will happen. I did not come here to fight for the general classification, but since I wore the leader's jersey yesterday, I gave my all today in the TT to respect the jersey and to show myself as a fighter. I am happy with my form so far, I am where I wanted to be in this part of the season. I felt quite good today, but it was a tough race. It was another windy day and during the race it was hard to fight against the wind, but in the end I am satisfied," explained Alexander Kristoff.

It was Etixx – Quick Step rider Niki Terpstra who won the 3rd stage. Fabian Cancellara from Trek Factory Racing took second, +0.08 behind the winner. ITT World Champion Bradley Wiggins from Sky was third, 9 seconds behind Terpstra, who became new race leader. Alexander Kristoff is 6th overall and 36 seconds behind him.

Tomorrow the 4th stage of the Tour of Qatar is a road stage of 165,6 km from Al Thakhira to Mesaieed.