With the women’s race now over, attention turns to the men’s peloton at the Tour of Qatar. The six-day event starts on Sunday and marks the second Middle-Eastern adventure for the peloton with the Dubai Tour and the Tour of Oman either side of it, though as the longest-running of that trio of races, the Tour of Qatar has forged a reputation as respected standalone event in its own right.
The format for the route remains virtually unchanged from last year with five road stages and a 10.9 kilometre stage thrown in for what should be a showdown between a hatful of the best sprinters in the world, a number of Classics stars, and a sprinkling of some of the top time triallists.
Etixx-QuickStep, already the most successful team of the season, return to Qatar in force for a race they’ve dominated since its inception. The Belgian team have won the race for the last three years and with Tom Boonen and defending champion Niki Terpstra both set to start, the Classics team will be looking for their fourth straight crown and an early opportunity to show their echelon skills ahead of their more glamorous targets in April.
Bradley Wiggins, Marcel Kittel, Peter Sagan, Fabian Cancellara and Alejandro Valverde are all set to start.
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