Omega Pharma-Quick Step put on a real show in today's second stage of the Tour of Qatar when the team forced a split in the crosswinds and put all of its 8 riders into the 24-rider front group. In the end Tom Boonen won his 21st stage win in the Qatari race and Niki Terpstra defended his overall lead but a late incident almost ruined the race for the stage winner.

Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team played their strengths to perfection in the 160.5km Stage 2 of Tour of Qatar, shattering the field to pieces in the wind, putting all their riders in the front group to chase down the breakaway, and making sure Tom Boonen was in perfect position to go for his 21st career victory.

The team worked hard and pulled the breakaway back in the last kilometers, and also chased down an attacking Lars Boom of Belkin Pro Cycling Team. Boonen's sprint to the finish was so strong he left a considerable gap to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers, Michael Morkov (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol). Despite winning with multiple bike lengths of an advantage, Boonen still made sure he sprinted all the way to the line, and even added a bike throw for good measure.

"I always sprint to the line, because a few years ago I was beaten by a certain guy named Mark Cavendish at Scheldeprijs," Boonen said with a smile. "I didn't sprint to the line then. So, from that day on, I sprint until the last centimeter.

"I am really happy about this result," he added. "This race always brings me luck. It's only the second race after Tour de San Luis and I already have a victory. So I am happy about it especially after a stage like today, a stage that was really hard. From the beginning we went full gas together with Tinkoff and Sky, and we created an immediate action. We went away with about 20 guys, including eight guys of our team. So with that many riders in the group we kept riding during the stage. We only thought about riding, and not the sprint.

Actually, Boonen had a unfortunate incident that could potentially have destroyed his chances.

"At 5km to more or less I was talking with Nikolas Maes to try and organize a sprint when I suddenly hit a hole in the road," he said. "My saddle went down about 4cm, and was pointing downward. I also broke my wheels. I was super lucky that I didn't have a flat tire or crash. But at that point it was too late to think about it or change the bike. I only thought about going fast for the sprint, not thinking about what could happen. There's always something at Tour of Qatar to make this race hard — the wind, or an accident for example. So, considering that I am thrilled with this victory."

With today's win, Boonen moved into 3rd on GC and he is now 14 seconds behind his teammate Niki Terpstra who defended the overall lead. Tomorrow he faces a hard challenge in the 10.9km time trial and he is ready to go full gas.

"I'm especially happy for the team, we won two races in two days which is important for the morale," he said. "Tomorrow there is a time trial, and we will see. Niki is in the lead, and of course it would be nice to be there in the top five tomorrow with Niki and maybe someone else on the team. Because when you have more than one guy you can play a little bit tactically in the next stages. We will see. It's only a question of going full gas for 10 kilometers tomorrow and see the results at the end."

Terpstra was full of praise for his team even though bonus seconds saw his advantage over 2nd placed Jurgen Roelandts come down to just 5 seconds.

"We knew the last 60km would included a tailwind, which is really hard because the speed reach about 60km an hour," he said." We had the team in front and went full throttle knowing this. We had to keep the pace up to keep the second group behind us, so we had to go full gas to stay in front. In the last kilometer we all pulled the sprint for Tom, and it's nice he could finish the job!

"For tomorrow I have no tactic really, it's just going from the start to the finish as fast as I can. I hope I can keep the jersey but it will be hard. I will try my best for a good result."

OPQS also had three riders finish in the top 10 for the second straight day: Andrew Fenn in 4th and Terpstra in 7th. Terpstra kept the GC lead, having also fought for crucial intermediate sprint points throughout the stage. Fenn, with his 4th place finish, now wears the white jersey for best young rider.

"Obviously we have Niki in the leader jersey and we're trying to keep him there," Fenn said. "Tom knows the race and has won so many stages before, so we're looking for him for the sprint. Tom was so clever in the final, he was really going hard for the stage. I stayed with Niki and Tom won the stage, which was amazing!

"My thoughts for tomorrow are good. The team is showing up pretty strong as they have been constantly present in the front. Niki's a specialist in the time trial as well, which is good for his GC chances. Hopefully I'll try and put up a good performance. Riding on my Specialized Shiv is a big difference than the Specialized road bikes, but I think we've got a good team and can get good results tomorrow. As for my white jersey, of course the GC jersey is the most important and we'll do our best to keep that one and what happens after that is just a bonus!"

Starting at 12.45 CET you can follow the time trial on CyclingQuotes.com/live. You can read our preview here.