The Tour of Qatar no longer opens the ProTour calendar, but it's still the first PT stage race, and one of the rare occassions when the eyes of the public are not upon the GC stars or the tough guys of the classics, but on the pure sprinters. No less than 5 pancake flat, not overly long, stages mean than most, if not all, of the ProTour greatest sprinters will be there, with the guest appearance of one of the fastest guys in the PCT peloton.
It's unsure whether the epilogue ITT will be meaningful for the final GC, but in the worst case it'll be a chance for the specialists in such short TTs to get a stage win and, why not, we can hope to get there with a close GC to get a great final showdown. But bonus seconds and the TT won't be the only factors to decide the GC, we're in Qatar and that means heat, sand and, most important: wind! Echelons could appear in any moment, meaning that getting a good position in the peloton could be almost as important as having a good final kick.
Team presentations
- Pokerstars.com
As we said, most of the fastest sprinters in the world are coming to Qatar, but if we had to single out one name as top favourite, it has to be Tom Boonen. The Belgian dominated the PT sprint scene last year, and not just he's fast, he also comes with a ridiculously strong support team, including last year's double stage winner Erik Mohs and Dan Holloway. If that leadout train works, Tommeke could be unbeatable.
- Vesuvio - Accumalux
Not far off Boonen in terms of sheer speed, and quite well supported as well, comes last year's GC winner, Ben Swift. Repeating the feat will be harder competing against Pokerstars' train, but surely still within reach for the Briton, who will be looking forward to get a good points haul for last year's PT winners. The Luxembourger team also bring one of the top favourites for the final stage, the German TT specialist Marcel Kittel.
- Team Puma - SAP
Last season, Daniele Bennati dominated the Continental sprints with an iron fist, and even got the beat the PT field in Fourmies. Not, even hampered by his age, he's one of the fastest in the PT, and as such one to watch closely in Qatar. Kvist and Gasparotto have already shown that they can do great leadouts, so will the 2010 winner be able to repeat? We'll see, but at least the team's goal of a GC podium should be quite possible.
- PFG - Armavia
PFG - Armavia has gone all in with Ivano Lo Cicero as the undisputed leader of the team, and that has got them to be the one wildcard team in Qatar. The Italian is very fast, and for sure won't complain about the flat terrain, so only the lack of a proper leadout compared to his main rivals could stop him, although a stage win is definitely possible for the Iranian - Armenian team. The rest of the team should concentrate in breakaways, or helping to control the race, as none of them seem strong enough to help Lo Cicero in the sprints.
- Milka - AVG
Sam Bewley has been repeatedly proclamed as the next Boonen, and he definitely has the goods to become such a rider. He could very well start, this year, shining in the desert, where last year already brought home a stage and a 2nd place in GC, which would be a great result for the Kiwi considering the even harder opposition, and the fact that the Leigh Howard - Alexandr Nepomnyachsniy pair looks weak compared to the trains of Puma and, above all, Pokerstars.
- Festina - Canal+
The Spaniard Óscar Guerao has changed teams and comes to the new season with a renewed strength after an average season for him. He hasn't much to envy in terms of support, having especially Anthony Lavoine and French champion Benoît Sinner with him, so he'll be ready to deliver some results to his new team.
- Wikipedia
Matthew Goss possibly lacks support, but certainly not speed, as shown by his stage win last year. The Aussie sprinter, however, will have a hard time repeating such performance as the field seems to be stronger, but he has the right tools for it. Meanwhile, the strong cobbler Danny Summerhill could be dangerous in a breakaway, especially if the wind appears with some strength.
The newly promoted belgin team started the season with a brilliant victory from Cunego in China, and now want to keep scoring big points with Gerald Ciolek. The German sprinter is good enough to surprise the favourites, especially considering how well supported he is, with several fast sprinters coming with him, such as Michael Vanderaerden, Andreas Stauff or Lars Crocket.
- Pearl - Adidas
The Portuguese team bring Romain Vanderbiest as their team leader, but while the French is very fast and should be up there, he possibly lacks a better support than Armindo Fonseca if he wants to be a proper podium contender. Still taking advantage of other teams' trains, he could very well steal a win.
- Koenigsegg
The Swedish team may lack a supersprinter of the Boonen - Swift - Bennati level, but they bring no less than three strong sprinters: Raúl Granjel Cabrera, Paride Grillo and Cameron Meyer, hoping that, this time, quantity beats quality. And if they can't do it in the sprints, they also have a good candidate for the final stage in the German timetrialist Jakob Fiedler.
- Simply Red Bull
Michael Van Stayen is SRB's main sprinter for this Tour of Qatar, and while he's definitely not slow, he surely would prefer an slightly hillier parcours to take advantage of his hill climb skills, which are better than most sprinters. And while the Belgian will have a hard time beating the top sprinters, Fabian Cancellara is possibly the top favourite for the ITT, and that alone could be enough to get a top 10 in GC, which gould be good for the PT novices.
- Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
Another newly promoted team, they come with the Kobe Vanoverschlde - Daryl Impey pair for the sprints, but it does seem that none of them are strong enough to take a win. The Belgian is just outclassed by many sprinters, and would need some luck to take a stage, while the South African would be much more dangerous in a hillier terrain.
- UBS - BMC
UBS comes with Maximiliano Richeze, and the Argentinian sprinter won't find much support from his team, so he'll have to take advantage of another sprinter's wheel if he wants to get some good results. Thus, a stage win is unlikely for the Swiss team, as they don't have anyone for the ITT either.
- Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
After a solid result from Di Maggio in their first race as ProTour team, Venchi brings Claudio Corioni and Greg Van Avermaet to Qatar. Individually, they lack some speed to match the best, but if they work well together, a good result, and even a stage win could be possible for the Italian team.
- Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
The young Luke Rowe has already shown that he can dominate the sprints in a race like the Tour de l'Avenir, but he still needs to step up a bit to do so with the big boys. He and Adam Blythe will try to get the best possible result for the team, but surely they'd need a stronger sprinter for such a race. Maybe Rowe himself could be that sprinter in the years to come?
- Team B & O
Neither Kristian Sobota or Troels Vinter are good enough sprinters to fight for a stage win, so the danish team will need to rely in the unlikely case of a successful breakaway containing one of their riders. They don't have a contender for the ITT either, although they do have a few solid timetrialists which could give them a good team classification. enough to score points? We'll see.
- Project 1t4i
The fact that Jon Aberasturi is the Dutch team's fastest man speaks volumes about how little chance they have in the bunch gallops. However, they do have a quite good contender for the ITT in the dutch TT champion Joost Posthuma, who could well bring some joy to the team in that last stage.
- Santander
The closest thing resembling a sprinter in the Spanish team squad is Vicent Reynès, but the breakaways of Jesús del Nero and the experience youngsters like Mario Gonzalez Salas or Jon Ander Insausti will acquire are possibly all what Santander is looking to get from this race.
- Pendleton's Twicer
Pendleton's comes sprinterless as well, and only Bradley Wiggins could get a decent result in the ITT, but realistically a low top 10 is all he can hope to get there. As it happened with Santander, experience for the younger riders is what Pendleton's will use Qatar to, as half their squad is still not maxed out.
- Team Bacardi
No sprinter for Bacardi either, and the fact that they didn't even bother to send a full 8 men squad says all about how few interest the Bermudian team has in this race, but the experience will be useful for riders like future Russian TT star Kiril Yatsevich.
Edited by kumazan on 25-01-2013 12:31
On a good day Bernaudeau could top 10 in that final TT, but it doesn't seem all that realistic that I'll get away with too much here. Guerao is probably not strong enough to get bonus seconds hence the TT'ers will be infront of him at the race end. Bernaudeau in 15-20th GC is probably the most realistic. We are hoping to upset with a top 3 sprint result though.
I have huge expectations here, so I should better prepare for total failure Although my team looks probably the strongest on paper, I´m worying of three things: extremely tough competion, strong wind and last, but not least early kicks of my sprint train. One or two stage wins plus achieving of my TOP3 goal would be awesome. I can´t wait for reports!!!
Looking forward to this one! Could be great battle between Boonen and Bennati. Think the one who wins the first stage could have a serious advantage for the rest of the race.
beagle wrote:
I´m worying of three things: extremely tough competion, strong wind and last, but not least early kicks of my sprint train. One or two stage wins plus achieving of my TOP3 goal would be awesome.
I couldn't say it better myself
Really really really excited, but equally worried something goes wrong. It's one of the easier goals we have this season, but it doesn't take much to finish the race without a single time bonus in this field.
Hopes are really on the Pokerstars train failing to display their strenght, otherwise it might be even counterproductive to have an own train here.
The first and the probably best chance to see how my new sprinters squad will do.
Very excited for this stage race even though to be realistic Ciolek will have to fight very hard for every single position.
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
Those 3.5 km ITT won't have a big impact, but then again, every second in Qatar could be of utmost importance! Hoping to see some close sprints and some killer-wind stages!
Hopefully my sprinters can produce a decent sprint train, but since there so many good sprinters I doubt it will be enough room. Nice to have Fiedler for the last stage though. If he doesn't get dropped in the wind, then he have a good chance of ending top 10 in the GC.
Pokerstars.com
Vesuvio - Accumalux
Team Puma - SAP![www.pcmdaily.com/images/avatars/pumal[5346].png](https://www.pcmdaily.com/images/avatars/pumal[5346].png)
PFG - Armavia
Milka - AVG
Festina - Canal+
Wikipedia
Pearl - Adidas
Koenigsegg
Aker - MOT
UBS - BMC
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
Team B & O
Project 1t4i
Santander
Pendleton's Twicer 
Team Bacardi
Although my team looks probably the strongest on paper, I´m worying of three things: extremely tough competion, strong wind and last, but not least early kicks of my sprint train. One or two stage wins plus achieving of my TOP3 goal would be awesome. I can´t wait for reports!!!
