A really, really windy stage today, so that forming a lead out train was unthinkable. This was the first time I ever rode in such winds I think, and that even though I lived and trained on the seaside nearly all of my life, getting more wind than id've liked anyway. It helped me a little here, but to be hones I wasn't feeling too great. I decided to stay tucked in behind Steele von Hoff, but I had to burn loads of energy to do so, more than I should have for being competitive in the Sprint. Yellow Jersey Giacomo Nizzolo won the stage, and i came 7th. This is getting more and more a race of truth, showing me what I can already do, and what I can't do yet. It shows that I can get consistent top 10's against strong, but not out-of-the-world opposition, but that I'm too young and inexperienced to challenge for a podium position just yet. This however might well be the strongest opposition I will be up against all season, so I'm not at all disappointed to be scoring consistently for the Conti rankings, and I'm hopeful I might be able to do a lot more in the smaller, .2 races.

@Shonak Yup, they seem to have been harsh indeed, though it's been a long time since i actually played the stage, and the entry for that day is a bit cryptic about it. It's something like "Strong winds and a lot of Echelons today. Yellow Jersey Nizzolo wins, me 7th.", so it might have been really bad or just standard Qatar.

@Sutty Yeah, I'll take it anytime, showing that he can also perform under not-so-ideal circumstances.

@Ian Yeah, I'm happy with his results so far, though he was a bit lucky that the top guns didn't bother showing up, or else things would've been a lot harder.

Today we went in to the stage with a new tactic: Each of our sprinters would just take the wheel of another train, instead of trying to build a train ourselves. It worked OK, with me finishing 8th. If i'd have had 300 metres more, i could have definitely challenged for a Top 5. Today's stage was a rather short one, so we decided to see what could be done for fun in Downtown Doha. Wasting energy by strolling around town isn't really something you do a lot as Cyclist, but given that it's only early season, and Doha and Qatar are real exotic places, places you don't come across when you're racing in Belgium or Britain in the latter stages of the season, we just decided to do it, and had a great time too.
First we hit the Souq Waqif, the biggest Bazaar in town according to Sam's Lonely Planet. We stopped for a traditional Arab tea at one of the stalls, which was surprisingly nice, given it was really hot out and all. Nico then decided to push the new found Arabism further, and went for a traditional style shave, with the long and sharp cut-throat razors. Luckily he didn't actually get his throat cut, that would've been a right shame, so long in Cycling without getting a real serious injury, and then getting himself killed shaving. Then we headed for the Fort, which looked like it came straight from a Disney movie. (According to Sam's LP, the Qatari government actually did it up to look just like that. Why does that not surprise me? :-P) Anyway, we had a nice time hanging around there, soaking up the atmosphere of the whole place as dusk was breaking. I wish we could have tried some of the food, but we had behaved un-cyclist like enough for the day. So, catch you tomorrow for the penultimate stage!

Luckily he didn't actually get his throat cut, that would've been a right shame, so long in Cycling without getting a real serious injury, and then getting himself killed shaving

The Hobbit wrote:
Great report.
@Dippo: please centre your sig. It's setting off my obsessiveness as it doesn't line up with the story title!

knockout wrote:


says the guy who hasn't centred his sig either

admirschleck wrote:
It's still not centred, The Hobbit.

@Knockout That would've been a case for these guys here then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1000_Way...ays_to_Die

@Hobbit It's centred now, though it doesn't really make a difference, because i normally trie to click the "hide sig" button, because the sig and the headline logo are the same.

@Admir & Hobbit I think The Hobbit is talking of my sig, whereas Admir is talking of The Hobbits sig.

Extremely disappointed today, I could only come fifteenth, even though I did everything the same way as the other days. Took a wheel, then launched my sprint from a pretty medium distance. Maybe I went a bit too early, because there was quite a headwind. Anyway, I was placed 15th. As I said, massively disappointing. Maybe I did waste a tiny bit too much energy yesterday, after all. Today there's no worry of that. We're going to take it really easy once we're back in the hotel (I'm writing from the bus; we're stuck in a massive traffic jam at the moment -_-) we'll chill in front of the TV, get a massage, and watch France (hopefully) slaughter Wales in the Six Nations. I'm lucky though, because the stage tomorrow is really, really short I'll get to catch the Ireland vs. England match, even though it's an early kick off. Yes, being able to watch a Rugby match where my country isn't even playing is the only highlight of my day. Ah well, tomorrow will be better. At least my country is playing.

@Sutty Thanks, he'll need it!

@mvhoogdalem Well, Wales are probably the strongest opponent, so Jack of course wants them to trip. Especially after they cheated Ireland of the win the week before, i still remember.
Hopefully the match next week at the Aviva goes better than that one!

@Sutty Yeah, that'd be very nice.

The same as yesterday. Not really happy, but glad to let Qatar behind me now. Bring on Oman! Impey won today, and Nizzolo took GC. Here the results:

GC:


Points:


Youth:


Of course overall it wasn't a bad race, but i was anonymous for most of it, thruth be told. We're going to catch the plane to Muscat tonight, and prepare for the Tour of Oman, where we think we might be able to do more. There i will also get my first taste of a proper mountain stage, riding up the infamous Green Mountain.

Also, since apparently I might have readers that don't follow the Six Nations: It wasn't worth the excitement. Ireland were shit, England weren't much better. In the end it was 6-12 to England, and I was left sitting there wondering how I could have wasted one and a half hours of my life even more pointlessly. I didn't find an answer.