STAGE 2: Al Thakhira - Madinat Al Shaml 144 KM's

Stage Favourites:
*****Petacchi(BOR) ****Davis(BOR) ***Bozic(BOR)
**Veelers(CAR) *Swift(KOE)

A fast day in the Qatari desert, if winds are high expect the bunch to be decimated.

With many riders trying to get away, van Zandbeek, the workhorse of Borussia could be seen closing down the early attacks.

Appleby of UK Youth was the first to puncture, the team showed their skills as he was back on the bike before he was out the rear of the peloton.

were felt early on in the stage. Many riders were, no doubt, filled with dread about the potential cross winds later on in the stage.

He is part of a 14 man break which has just established and also includes: Brammeier, Grau, Bewley, Kamyshev, B Schierlinckx. Saramotins, Roth, Willems, de Negri, Holohan, Pedraza, McEvoy and Meyer. Yes. A big one!

With 70 KM to go SwissLife want to preserve the race lead of Bodnar and even though the break is only at 4'00 they begin to severely up the pace in the crosswinds around Al Zubara. This causes a whole lotta damage!

54 riders are immediately dropped as 3 7up riders, including Fischer, are caught napping..

The biggest casualty, you ask?.....

After looking in such good form he is in the wrong position at the wrong time. He has no hope of catching back to up to the red jersey group.

It is not long before Putsep takes up a more leisurely pace on the front of the 54 man gruppeto, they are destined to lose well over 5'00 today.

With the break @ 2'00 with 38 KM to go we have some strong riders for the flat attack out of the peloton. They are: Sergent, McCann and Grabsch.

Shortly, they would be join by O'Grady and Keizer and they would quickly bridge across to the original escapees to form a group of 19.

The pace would stall and with 14 KM we are all back together after a brief but unsuccessful last surge by Kamyshev.

They are allowed some leeway and quickly pull out the best part of a minute with 10 KM to go.

For the first time in the stage Borussia Dortmund come to the front of the peloton in number, it is felt! They are going well over 60 + km/h with van Zandbeek on the front this shatters the peloton again and immediately 2 groups of around 30 riders each are dropped and Grabsch and Sergent are wound back in.

When......

The Borussia Dortmund riders slow up and fall back in search of their sprinter, despite Davis being in a good position. Why Petacchi found himself in such a position is questionable? That is crosswinds for you.

With 5 KM to go...

They are Sergent, Grabsch, Keizer, Sieberg, Vermote and S Schierlinckx.

The peloton, now lead by Nespresso, are still driving along but the domestiques are no match for this bunch.

Schierlinckx and Vermote attack again and distance the 4 other escapees....

It was some final sprint between the two fighters. The 1,950,000 looking like a bargain with that performance. Sieberg would lead the other escapees home '17 later.....

It wasn't your typical sprinters day today the severe winds made it a hard man's stage, hence the front of the peloton being an amalgamation of riders, not just your flat out sprinter.

Schierlinckx and Nokia - Ekspla have more reasons to celebrate as the Belgian moves into the race lead '5 ahead of Vermote thanks to time bonuses. What a stage. Staff will do well to hang on to the race lead after tomorrow sees us end on the mountain.