Despite their best efforts, the BMC Racing Team riders were unable to keep Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) from winning his third straight stage and enhancing his lead at the Tour of Qatar.

It was not for lack of trying, though. Taylor Phinney made his move immediately following the final intermediate sprint, 127.5 km into the 154 km race.

"The guys wanted to to do something because they knew from last year that the circuit was hard there," BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Jackson Stewart said. "Unfortunately, today the wind was lighter." Phinney and Sky’s Bernhard Eisel quickly gained 25 seconds, but with the third rider in the move, Niki Terpstra, being a teammate of Cavendish's, their escape only lasted 10 km as Terpstra was content to just sit in and let the breakaway be reeled back in.

With the sprint coming up, it was Blythe's turn but even though his teammates did a good job it was insufficient to prevent Cavendish from winning once again.

"The guys did a good job of positioning me, but I lost a little bit with the chaos," he said. "Greg (Van Avermaet) brought me to the front with 1 km to go and I started my sprint at 350 meters. I was just trying to pass as many people and hold on."

The results of the penultimate stage mean that Cavendish leads a host of BMC Racing Team riders: Brent Bookwalter is second (at 15 seconds), Phinney is third (at 20 seconds) and Blythe is fourth (at 22 seconds). Phinney, though, succeeded in holding onto the best young rider jersey.