2012 Tour of Qatar (5th - 10th February), 2.HC

[theyoungest]

Qatar always makes for good racing. Unlike as said before the TDU.

Did you actually see the TDU? It had echelons ánd climbing. In the same stage.

 

[will10]

If there's an early season race that deserves WT it's Qatar and not Down Under lol. Wouldn't change much though, so doesn't really matter. Best sprinters are all here except Greipel who's ill. And we get great live footage.

Matter of time before this is WT I reckon.

 

[craig1985]

Who else is excited by Boonen's early show of form so far and boding well for the Classics?

 

[TeoSheva]

General:
1. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) 9:50:50
2. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) a 31
3. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky) a 34
4. Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) a 36
5. Bernhard Eisel (Sky) a 45
6. Tom Veelers (Project 1t4i) a 50
7. Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) a 1:06
8. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) a 1:09
9. Aidis Kruopis (GreenEDGE) a 1:10
10. Adam Blythe (BMC) a 1:14

 

[TRDean]

Who else is excited by Boonen's early show of form so far and boding well for the Classics?

I really am!! Very happy so see Boonen ride like this!

 

[will10]

Who else is excited by Boonen's early show of form so far and boding well for the Classics?

In his best years Boonen always did well in Qatar.
In his worst years Boonen always did well in Qatar.

Can't gain a lot of insight from this race unfortunately on how he's going to go. But given how's he's spoken in interviews this winter, I think we'll see the '05/'06 Boonen back.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Boonen is such a champ

tornado tom, the return

---

feel for sorry blythe, excellent ride. I like him.

 

[kanari]

Wow, that was a great stage, awesome racing. Can already see ToQ dominating the *Stage race of the year’ polls in November…

 

[Publicus]

Only caught the last bit of the final sprint. Tomke looked good. Did Cancellara do a lot of work in the finale or is he just not on form at this point in the season (Boonen powered away pretty effortlessly (could be I was still a little drowsy))?

 

[craig1985]

Looks like Eddy Merckx has had a tumble.

 

[theyoungest]

Matter of time before this is WT I reckon.

Why? There's less local interest than in the Tour of Beijing. And the WT teams want to come here anyway.

 

[Andy99]

Did you actually see the TDU? It had echelons ánd climbing. In the same stage.

what an echelon and a hill?

Good stage today. Feel sorry for Blythe though.

 

[will10]

Why? There's less local interest than in the Tour of Beijing. And the WT teams want to come here anyway.

- Organised by the ASO
- Would help to bridge the gap between TDU and the "proper" WT races.
- Little racing in this part of the world - globalisation etc.
- Money

 

[Andy99]

Why? There's less local interest than in the Tour of Beijing. And the WT teams want to come here anyway.

Exactly.. Other than the 'proper' classic events, WT status is only used by the UCI to force teams to race in places against their will.

 

[Andy99]

'Tyler Farrar suffered a puncture which ruled out Garmin's best hope while GreenEdge lost their two final riders in the cross winds. '

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

- Organised by the ASO
- Would help to bridge the gap between TDU and the "proper" WT races.
- Little racing in this part of the world - globalisation etc.
- Money

uggh please no.

forcing races to be wt is just meh. This race is doing well as it is.

too mant wt races just makes light of the program.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Didn't they see Kruopis flat?

 

[boomcie]

Boonen looking VERY confident. Long time since I've seen him like this.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Didn't they see Kruopis flat?

yeh but he aint english-speaking !

 

[theyoungest]

yeh but he aint english-speaking !

Yesterday they were talking about the decline in Tjallingii's career. Doh...

Speaking of decline and Rabo riders, what the hell have these guys been doing during the winter? They suck in every race.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

nothing says start of the season like rabo fail

 

[insideout leadout]

When they put their faith into an over hyped sprinter, fail is expected.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yesterday they were talking about the decline in Tjallingii's career. Doh...

Speaking of decline and Rabo riders, what the hell have these guys been doing during the winter? They suck in every race.

Let's wait till after Milan-San Remo to make your first verdict lol. They're missing out on big winners, instead of trying to get Renshaw they should have gotten someone who can win a few races. Still bummed Rabo didn't give Freire a decent contract. Now he's with Katusha

 

[El Pistolero]

What's Chichi up to by the way? I heard they're going to work for him in the final stage, is he conserving energy now?

 

[Panda Claws]

What's Chichi up to by the way? I heard they're going to work for him in the final stage, is he conserving energy now?

Hmmm. They also said they were going to work for Steegmans in stage 3.