Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the opening stage of this year's Tour of Qatar. The route will be the same as last year, i.e. the riders will soon take off from the Barzan Towers in Umm Salal, a town near Doha, the capital, and having a population of about 90,000.
The route is an incomplete "eight" shape, and so the peloton will first head north and reach the first intermediate sprint after 32.8km. Shortly after the northern turning point, the second intermediate sprint will be taken after 86km, i.e. with slightly more than 50km to go. The route then continues southwards, finally reaching the finish line near the Golf Club in Qatar's capital Doha.
Today, we won't need to talk about the wind - there is none. This should be good news for those sprinters who don't like riding at high speed for a long time; as there's no chance of forming echelons, we expect a not-too-fast race.
But as soon as we leave the starting line, some riders decide to make a fast race nevertheless, at least we already have 8 riders trying to escape.
These are: Gesbert, van der Hoorn, Wackermann, Arslanov, Varga, Kochetkov, van den Berg and Kadri.
However, this first try only lasts for about 3km, then they are reeled in by Aker, Moser and eBuddy.
But as soon as the bunch is complete again, Gesbert, Kadri and van der Hoorn try again.
Varga and Arslanov try to follow and close the gap.
Now, we have a strange situation in the peloton. Gazelle and especially Isostar are chasing as hard as they can! None of their riders is a favorite here - what could their plan be?
Now we see! As soon as Varga is caught, Katrasnik and Teunissen attack!
As soon as they're gone, the pace in the peloton drops. They fly past Arslanov and catch up to the leading trio just after the first intermediate sprint.
The sprint is won by Gesbert. Full result:
1. Gesbert
2. van der Hoorn
3. Kadri
Arslanov trails by 30", the pack is already 1'30" behind and is again lead by Aker (Anderberg, Gjolberg), Moser (Soupe, Boros) and eBuddy (Brus, O. Goldstein).
100km from the finish, the gap between leaders and bunch reaches almost 3 minutes. Arslanov loses more and more time and is caught with 70km to go. Hence, we won't count him to the Breakaway of the Day, which is still 2'15" ahead and consists of: Gesbert van der Hoorn Kadri Katrasnik Teunissen
They still travel at high-speed, which doesn't come as a surprise, given that Katrasnik and Teunissen are real machines on the flat. Van der Hoorn isn't weak, either. Kadri and Gesbert may get in trouble if the speed stays up for much longer, though.
60km to the finish line, and the pack trails by 2'12". Still the same teams in front. While Farfetch joins the front of the peloton, they aren't doing any work, just trying to protect their leader Kemboi.
Kadri wins the second intermediate sprint, while Teunissen overtakes Katrasnik in the final inches before the line. Result:
1. Kadri
2. Teunissen
3. Katrasnik
The pack is still 2'12" behind, and we've got about 55km to go. The pace is really high, and some of the weaker flat riders might start worrying - even though there's still no wind at all.
Yet, everything seems to go as planned, as the gap drops to 1'41" with 40km to go, and 1'18" with 30km left.
Just as the pack shrinks the gap to under a minute, Katrasnik, clearly the strongest flat rider, tries his luck and attacks under the 20km arc!
But his BotD companions won't give up yet, and get back on level terms with the Slovene.
10km to go, and the peloton still has not made up all of the gap. But there's only 35" left, so everything is ready for the first Sprint Royale of the season!
But the escapees continue pushing, and they still have 25" with 7km to go. And more important - the constantly high pace has indeed led to a major split in the peloton! None of the stage favorites are involved, but we see some expected leadout riders on the wrong side: Stauff and Petit, meaning Coquard will likely be on his own!
We can spot Nelson as well, and even Nizzolo, which is a huge bummer for Repsol!
And Tinkoff can't hope for Serebriakov and Samolenkov to do well today, as they're behind as well!
Furthermore, we see some of the epilogue favorites behind - can they already make a cross on a good GC result? These include Gonzalez Salas, Sergent, Paillot, Howson, Van Winden and Vlatos.
Only 5km left, and the breakaway is still resisting! It's still Aker and Moser chasing. Many of the other sprinters have lost most of their team in the split - with the second pack falling further behind - and are alone, some have one last man to help them out.
The situation:
Hnik
Oss
Anderberg
Blythe
Vermeltfoort
Dzamastagic
Boros
Goncalves
Fiedler
Turek
Ariesen
Gjolberg
Boeckmans
Groenewegen
Lampaert
Dakteris
Kennaugh
Guerao
Some big names like Bewley, Coquard, Grosu or Swift slightly further behind, but no reason to panic yet!
Just 2km to the finish line, and Teunissen, Katrasnik, van der Hoorn, Kadri and Gesbert still have a gap!
Behind is Oss, giving everything he has left to finally close these final meters. Then, the situation is as follows:
Turek
Haddi
Baska
Soupe
Groenewegen
Vermeltfoort
Boeckmans
Gjolberg
Hnik
Swift
Kennaugh
Ringheim
Goncalves
Dzamastagic
Guerao
Bewley
Kristoff
Dennis
Coquard sitting just behind, likewise Howard. Grosu, Van Stayen and Ewan further back.
The red kite for the escapees, as they launch their sprint! Teunissen up front, followed by Katrasnik, Kadri, van der Hoorn and Gesbert.
Will they even accomplish the huge upset that would be a breakaway victory? They'll have to be very strong, as the peloton quickly approaches!
It's the last kilometer for the peloton as well, and the breakaway riders still show no sign of fatigue! Katrasnik has now taken the lead ahead of Teunissen, the others remaining in the same order.
The peloton still has a significant gap, as they launch their fast men:
Turek
Haddi
Oss
Baska
Swift
Soupe
Vermeltfoort
Howard
Coquard
Groenewegen
Guerao
Kristoff
Boeckmans
Grosu
Van Stayen
Bewley
Kennaugh
Guardini
Kemboi
Gjolberg
Ewan
Ulanowski
Now they're all there! But wait... Team Tinkoff is nowhere to be seen! Meyer and Van Heerden are in the front group, but way too far behind to get in the mix!
500m remaining for Katrasnik, who still looks strong, but Kadri has overtaken Teunissen and is on fire! On paper, he is a way stronger sprinter than the Slovene, what can he do with this? Gesbert passed van der Hoorn and quickly closes in on a tiring Teunissen.
But the peloton has not resigned, either, and there the "big guns" start firing:
Swift
Turek
Coquard
Soupe
Haddi
Howard
Kristoff
Groenewegen
Baska
Guerao
Oss
Bewley
Boeckmans
Vermeltfoort
Guardini
Ewan
Grosu
Van Stayen
Kemboi
Kennaugh
Only 300m to go for Katrasnik, and Kadri seems to be fading! However, Gesbert is now third and has reached his top speed!
Meanwhile, the top sprinters really need to do something extraordinary now, if they still want to fight for the stage win! Here are their current positions:
Swift
Coquard
Kristoff
Groenewegen
Soupe
Howard
Bewley
Guerao
Turek
Guardini
Ewan
Boeckmans
Grosu
Kemboi
Kennaugh
Van Stayen
Katrasnik is already celebrating, but there are still 100m to go! What are you doing, man? Will he give the victory away with a premature celebration? Kadri, Gesbert and Teunissen won't get him, but the peloton has already swallowed van der Hoorn and is approaching!
Swift
Coquard
Soupe
Howard
Guerao
Kristoff
Groenewegen
Bewley
Grosu
Guardini
Ewan
Boeckmans
Kennaugh
Van Stayen
Kemboi
Bewley seems to be too far behind, but can Soupe get a great result for Moser? Swift and Coquard seem to be the strongest, but Howard and Guerao are moving at top speed as well!
What a great day for Gasper Katrasnik and Isostar - LimeBike! With a final effort, he throws his bike across the finish line and gets a sensational victory!
It isn't looking that good for his breakaway companions, though...
Indeed, second goes to a very strong Ben Swift, who will likely be quite unhappy with his team's work. He was the strongest, and yet he didn't win. It should be a good basis for the GC, though.
Behind Swift, it's Soupe, Howard and Guerao on one line fighting for third. Coquard has been boxed in behind the remaining escapees, which he won't be happy with, either.
And it's Geoffrey Soupe who kind of saves the day for Moser by getting a surprise 3rd place! He just edges out Leigh Howard and Oscar Guerao, who finish 4th and 5th.
It's incredibly close for the next places as well! Finally, Dylan Groenewegen beats Eduard Grosu for 6th, while Sam Bewley will be disappointed with his 8th place.
A nice "resurrection" by Mike Teunissen, though, who seemed to be done, but finds new breath and gets 9th, ahead of Blel Kadri who rounds up the Top 10.
It was a close call for the places just behind as well, as you can see. But no more bonus seconds are awarded for:
11. Kennaugh
12. Van Stayen
13. Coquard
14. Boeckmans
15. Gesbert
16. Ewan
17. Kristoff
18. Scully
19. Ulanowski
20. Andersen
Do you remember the split that happened with 7km left? The second group never got back. Only 77 riders finished on s.t. with the winner, meaning that the remaining 115, with a time gap of 1'56", can now focus purely on stage wins. This may be bitter for many of the favorites for the last stage, as they certainly had some hopes of a good GC result, but it wasn't to be.
It can be said as well that the flat riding skills were not a decisive factor today whether to make the split or not, but it was just a matter of good positioning at the right moment. Maybe some riders will learn their lesson and get their revenge tomorrow?
But now back to today's big winner: Gasper Katrasnik! He dominated his breakaway companions in the stage finale, and was the only one to save a few inches against the top sprinters approaching with hyperspeed.
And of course, as it is usual for first stages, he makes multiple appearances, as he wins the stage and gets all special jerseys - overall leader, points, and best young rider. It will be hard for him to defend the first two jerseys, as it's highly unlikely that he'll beat the top sprinters again. But the fight for the best young rider's jersey will be very interesting, as the pre-race favorites probably need to gain back some bonus seconds before the final stage.
The best team today was Moser, but they'll surely talk about some fine tuning tonight. What already seems to be sure is that Aegon will not be able to defend their title. And Generali had an absolutely horrible day with no single rider in the first group!
Some riders had a great start today, others will want to take their revenge tomorrow - stay tuned for some more great flat racing!
Tour of Qatar 
