Fantasy Cycling: Tour of Qatar round-up

The sun sets on a sandy, flat and windy Tour of Qatar and once again it's Tom Boonen heading off with the spoils. That's the fourth time the Belgian has won the ochre jersey, and he heads off with everyone else to the Tour of Oman to get a bit of bumpy stuff in before the classics start. But who's walked off with our first ever Fantasy Tour of Qatar prize?

Well, let's begin with the sixth and final stage. It wasn't to be a third stage win for Mark Cavendish; the Manxman went down after a touch of wheels, leaving Armaud Démare to take the stage spoils. That was good news if you had Démare, and having Galimzyanov and Renshaw, who rolled in second and third, was also good. Team ARMAGUEDON correctly predicted the 1-2-3 and backed that up with scores from Boonen, Steegmans, Kruopis and Blythe to post an impressive 170 on a tricky day for big scores. Team a9350058 (no idea -ed) were just two points off the pace with team oiuroior in third with 160.

Look a bit further down the stage table and you'll see team rjl nestling in tenth place, with 151 points. That may not have been enough to win stage six but it was plenty enough to make the jump from second place to first in the overall Tour of Qatar table, with 792 points. Team SBABES managed 104, but in the end that was only enough for a total of 749 and third place, behind Team Cairns whose 139 points on the day meant a final total of 759 and a jump from third to second.

Over in transfer-shunning purist land… well, it's another win for alexlnumber1, and team To be pure or not to be pure, that is the question. The boy's got some skills, for sure; the last stage was where it really counted, with a 141-point haul to jump three places to the top spot. Team Palmares ended up in second with 636, after a late surge, and Team Blue Vertice jumped seven places to third with 132 points on the final stage. alexlnumber1 won the Tour Down Under purist comp, so he just gets the glory (and probably a pair of socks) the prize goes to second-placed fixter.

So, that about wraps it up then. Here's a full list of the prize winners:

Stage 1: skidders skeletons (stevemarks)
Stage 2: So Far so Long  (cchead77)
Stage 3: SBABES (OllyH)
Stage 4: Skinny Rubber Crew (coredon)
Stage 5: TeamMattFinish (MattFr)
Stage 6: ARMAGUEDON (ARMAGUEDON)
Overall 1st: rjl (rjl)
Overall 2nd:Team Cairns (robacairns)
Overall 3rd: SBABES (OllyH)
Purist: To be pure or not to be pure, that is the question. (alexlnumber1) - prize goes to fixter

Don't forget you only really have today to get your team sorted for the Tour of Oman: it's GMT+4 over there so the transfer windows shut a bit earlier in the morning, 8am for those of us in the UK. You can make unlimited changes before that deadline, and after that it's two per stage. Don't forget: there are hills!