Tour of Qatar (2.HC) 8/2 - 13/2

[lemon cheese cake]

Why start a race thread and not even include a link to the start list or the length of the stages?

Anyway, looking forward to see huge battles in the wind.

They're on page two. No profiles though as there arent any. Hugo Koblet has some quite acurate ones though.

 

[manafana]

enough good sprinters here to dilute the bonus seconds time trial be key I reckon.

 

[wirral]

Will this be live-streamed? If so, roughly the same time as Dubai?

Yes and no, much later start times, respectively.

Lars boom for the short time trial and the GC, he give me good vibrations yesterday in dubai.

The Astana team backing Boom cannot match the Etixx-Quick Step team or even the Tinkoff or Sky line-ups when the crosswind blows. Boom will have to ride another team's echelon. He may well have the excellent individual credentials to merit taking the GC but Qatar is very much a team race and he doesn't have a strong enough team here IMO.

 

[Kwibus]

enough good sprinters here to dilute the bonus seconds time trial be key I reckon.

Did you ever watch Qatar?
There will be bunch sprints, but there will be echelons as well and they will decide the winner. Being fast and a good echelon rider (Boonen) will definately help decide the winner.

The TT will be crucial as well though. It will be an interesting race like every year. Let's hope for strong winds and we'll have a good time watching this race.

 

[Kwibus]

The Astana team backing Boom cannot match the Etixx-Quick Step team or even the Tinkoff or Sky line-ups when the crosswind blows. Boom will have to ride another team's echelon. He may well have the excellent individual credentials to merit taking the GC but Qatar is very much a team race and he doesn't have a strong enough team here IMO.

Indeed. Boom will do well I guess, but if his team can't back him during the echelons he will have a hard time and he won't be able to get bonus seconds at the finish vs Boonen for example.

Sagan and Wiggins will be serious contenders for Etixx is my guess.
Wiggins if he actually cares, because he will have to ride at the front and if he doesn't care he won't. Sagan will be in the top10 of the short TT is my guess and he's just a beast. Very strong and has proven to be in the first echelon in every race I've seen him with echelons. Together with his spring....

It should be good!

 

[naffets]

No profiles usually given out for this stage race as its pretty much ride one way in a flat desert and turn and ride another way .
Most of the routes are replicated whether one way or other over all stages . Which means at some point there will be cross winds although not looking to strong for opening stage

 

[Roude Leiw]

Love the Qatari race, it smells of classics.... With all the money they have, they should tear out some roads and put cobbles there ... Now that would be something.

Racing wise, will be interesting to see how Bouhanni defends himself in classics type racing as he wants to target now that Demare is out of the way.

Tommeke for the win though

 

[indianfanboy]

Sagan to take the overall and couple of stages

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Love the Qatari race, it smells of classics.... With all the money they have, they should tear out some roads and put cobbles there ... Now that would be something.

Racing wise, will be interesting to see how Bouhanni defends himself in classics type racing as he wants to target now that Demare is out of the way.

Tommeke for the win though

They could definatly create some stage that has some flat cobbles. Another with the cobbled bergs and a third with Ardennes classic climbs. Plus with the amount of money the qataris have, they could probably build quite accurately a hill from belgium.

 

[indianfanboy]

The Qatari worlds will have a 1.2km cobbles stretch and a 2km long straight finishing line

 

[Gloin22]

The Qatari worlds will have a 1.2km cobbles stretch and a 2km long straight finishing line

They are street cobbles..won't make any difference.

 

[Wallenquist]

The Qatari worlds will have a 1.2km cobbles stretch and a 2km long straight finishing line

Yeah but those cobbles are nothing like the Roubaix, even easier then the one used in Scheldeprijs.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

what are the wind forecasts this week? could make or destroy the race as usual

 

[Orbit501]

Not too windy today, so looks like it might go to a bunch sprint for a change.

http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/l/25.35,51.18

Guardini is carrying good form. Could be the dark horse for today's stage.

 

[indianfanboy]

Predicted headwinds upto 35-45kmph in todays's stage....Gilbert said he expects the peloton to split
-According to tour of qatar official twitter

 

[jens_attacks]

if you find some early live streams plz post.
i'm quite the fan of this race

the untouchable war machines will cause chaos here

 

[Orbit501]

Predicted headwinds upto 35-45kmph in todays's stage....Gilbert said he expects the peleton to split
-According to tour of qatar official twitter

Oh, I read different (see post above). We'll see I suppose.

 

[Tournesol]

No disrespect to anyone but the opening post on this thread talks about peleton and there is no such word,now its been said again,its peloton.I am being a bit pedantic but it needs said.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

if you find some early live streams plz post.
i'm quite the fan of this race

the untouchable war machines will cause chaos here

http://www.procyclinglive.com/livestream/

Keep refreshing the page. Thr streams will be put up about an hour before the start.

 

[jens_attacks]

No disrespect to anyone but the opening post on this thread talks about peleton and there is no such word,now its been said again,its peloton.I am being a bit pedantic but it needs said.

no, it's the pelican!

 

[indianfanboy]

if you find some early live streams plz post.
i'm quite the fan of this race

the untouchable war machines will cause chaos here

The race just started now.Live streams expected in one hour.Will post them once they are available.

 

[jens_attacks]

ok thanks everyone

 

[Flamin]

They're on page two. No profiles though as there arent any. Hugo Koblet has some quite acurate ones though.

Thanks, but I mean it's a lot easier if the important info is mentioned in the OP.

 

[indianfanboy]

break of two with 4 minutes over the peloton

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Stage 1:

So they started this now. Wind is 23km/h according to the weather forecast and it's from the south east. So there while be at least a bit of wind but it will be mostly headwind, so probably nothing much will happen today. Actually looking at the map, the final line south to the sealine beach might have a bit of crosswinds. If it's open there, there might be some splits in the preparation for the sprint? Who knows.....

The break is Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Luca Sterbini (Bardiani), so a pretty weak break.

Also, the field of Qatar is actually really amazing. I read on the Sporza ticker that the riders competing here have won a total of 23 Monuments and 7 world title between them. (And mountains of other wins of course.)