Belgium's Tom Boonen pulled out all the stops in a sprint finish to win stage three of the Tour of Qatar.
The defending champion lived up to his 'Tornado' nickname, edging out Heinrich Haussler of Germany and Australian Baden Cooke at the finish of the 136.5 kilometres stage from Dukhan in the west to Mesaieed, south of Doha.
The Quick Step rider has won the event three times in the last four years and his stage win was his 16th in the Tour since 2004.
However, Dutchman Wouter Mol retains the yellow jersey with an overall lead of nine seconds over Geert Steurs.
The finish was marred by a nasty pile-up just 200 metres from the line, causing Germany's Gerald Ciolek to break his collarbone. The 23-year-old will return to Germany for medical examinations to see if he requires surgery. His injury follows that of Norwegian champion and Team Sky member Kurt-Asle Arvesen, who broke his collarbone on Monday.
However, the rest of Team Sky crossed the line safely. Senior sports director Scott Sunderland told the Team Sky website: “It was a super-fast last few kilometres and then in the closing stages five or six riders came down.
“We'd had a team meeting beforehand and said we're here to do well but don't want to be taking any unnecessary risks at this stage of the season if it's not merited.
“It was a tough day yesterday but a little bit better today even though we had another four punctures on account of some rough road surfaces.
“The main thing now is for the riders to get to know each out on the road, and get used to communicating and working with each other on the bike in different race situations.”
Since we're talking (checks thread again) why UK cycle sales have plummeted to 1970s levels, and now "infra" and "US" ... surely one of the best...
I thought that too, but apparently you can get safety compliant bull bars. I'm sure they're safe relative to the ones that became popular in the...
Driver hospitalised after flipping car onto roof in Swindon street...
Granted, given the width they didn't manage to quite block all the cycling access, but they tried...(from here - skip to the other side to see the ...
I agree, TV coverage of three stages as a one-time-only does nothing for the sport of cycling.
One of, and maybe the only, redeeming value of the post-my-life culture, is that some of the adherents will do the cops' job for them -- which is...
You can both be right - the scheme was introduced by Labour, but the fines levied under it increased dramatically in 2023 under the Tories.
Agreed, there was no supension. There were various modifications of the plan, and a long time before the Beafort Rd and Crews Hole Rd one way plan...
My only use for a camera is for "evidence". I only check it (& check before and after every ride) to make sure it is working. While I have had...
I don't see anything in what they said to suggest that they even think about 3rd party reporting of dangerous driving as being part of the picture...