Editor's note: Unfortunately, there was a cosmetic defect in stage 2, having a barrier and spectators crossing the road 200m from the finish line. I tried to hide this as much as possible on the screenshots, but you'll still see it. And some images aren't as nice and varied as I'd wanted, but I was very restricted in the possible angles. I apologize for the inconvenience, but at least it had strictly no influence on the racing.
Tour of Qatar
Stage 2: Dukhan - Al Gharafa Stadium (145.8km)
Profile & Map:
Spoiler
Hello and welcome to stage number two of the 2019 edition of the Tour of Qatar!
We have crossed the Qatar peninsula from east to west to reach today's host city for the stage start, Dukhan. This city is the site of the first oil discovery in Qatar and is administered by Qatar's state oil agency. Only the roughly 7,000 inhabitants and external employees may usually enter the city through the security gates, but of course they make an exception to host Tour of Qatar.
From the start line, riders will first travel south for roughly 25km, until they reach the turning point and ride back to the start line. Almost, at least, as they turn north-east just before, and reach the first intermediate sprint after 67km.
After about 20 more kilometers in the same direction, there's a 90 degrees turn, after which the route leads south-east to the second intermediate sprint after 104.7km.
The riders continue riding southwards, except for the last few kilometers leading again north-east to arrive in Ar-Rayyan, next to the stadium of football club Al-Gharafa SC. Ar-Rayyan is the second biggest city in Qatar with a population of roughly 600,000, and is counted to the Doha metropolitan area.
Today, we DO need to talk about the wind: it's of medium strength, with 25km/h, and blowing north-east. Which means the riders will experience crosswinds during the forth-and-back on the first 50km, and then have some 40km with tailwind.
However, they will again need to handle crosswinds for quite much the whole rest of the race, again having tailwind on the last - probably very fast - kilometers. At least, it's not raining.
And that's enough information, the race is on!
As in stage one, the first attack of the race is launched at the waiving of the white flag. It's first Delgerbayar Senyenov De Buyst Declerq Bouet Oram Stimulak
trying to escape, immediately followed by Hamza Venturini Kneisky Bol
However, the breakaway doesn't last long, as O. Goldstein and Prado lead the peloton back to their wheels.
A second attempt, this time by Kochetkov Kneisky Bouet Declerq Venturini Oram Stimulak Korsaeth
doesn't last long, either, as the peloton is lead by Hepburn, Blythe and Russom. It has started raining now, let's see who does or doesn't like this.
Four riders from the former breakaways are insisting, though: Declerq Venturini Kneisky Oram
However, this breakaway attempt is once more threatened by a fast moving bunch, where we can even start seeing some kinds of echelons at this early stage of the race!
False alert, the pack decides to slow down and let the escapees go - for the moment. It has stopped raining, and we can see the expected teams controlling the peloton: Aker (Gjolberg), Aegon (Frison), Moser (Prado), Grieg (Ringheim), Farfetch (Lander), Festina (Vlatos) and Indosat (Russom).
Meanwhile, the breakaway is 3 minutes ahead and has 100km to go. As we have our BotD confirmed, let's take a closer look at who we have: All of them are decent flat riders, with Kneisky being clearly the strongest in this discipline. Given yesterday's result, a happy omen? Venturini is by far the best sprinter in the group, let's see how he can make use of this. Declerq and Oram would probably need a well-timed attack to win.
And Venturini indeed dominates his companions for winning the first intermediate sprint by quite some margin:
1. Venturini
2. Oram
3. Kneisky
The gap is 2'43". It was actually never higher than 3'10" until now.
The escapees have now left the tailwind section and are again experiencing crosswinds. The peloton is about to reach the 90 degrees turn as well - let's see how that turns out. The winds are still between 20 and 30km/h, so nothing really strong, but the team leaders should still be attentive.
Once the pack has reached this section, it's only eBuddy (Goldstein, Ariesen), Podium Ambition (Nelson, Edmondson) and Moser (Prado, Hnik, Boros) leading.
The gap is down to 2'03" with 50km to go.
It's again Venturini who quite easily takes the second intermediate sprint, even though it was a bit closer than at the first one.
1. Venturini
2. Kneisky
3. Declerq
The sprint was taken with 40km to go, and the gap hasn't change within the last 10km. Still 2'01" separating the leaders from the pack.
The peloton is really stretched now, with the first 25 riders lined up like pearls on a string. Hepburn has joined the chase and pushes hard now, and it's only 1'12" remaining with 20km to go!
Will there be a split or not, that is the hot question at the moment. And, of course: will the chase work out today?
10km to go, and the peloton has again slowed down a bit. No split has happend, and the riders will soon be in town, where the wind should no longer be dangerous. The gap is down to 28", and now eBuddy and Moser have to share the work, the other teams being passive at the moment.
Just 5km left, and the BotD is still ahead! Only 20" remaining, though, so we really seem set for the first "Sprint Royale" of this PT season!
The pack is led by Ariesen, Boros, Lampaert, Sergent, Cataford and Vermeltfoort. Many domestiques still ahead in the peloton, with the sprinters all riding just behind.
3km remaining, and now we can see some nice sprint trains building up! There seems to be no dominating team, so 4 of them were able to build up a three-man-train: Edmondson - Ewan - Nelson Baska - Soupe - Bewley Vermeltfoort - Brus - Grosu Van Avermaet - Speirs - Kristoff
We can see other "big guns" just behind, but they seem to be rather on their own: Swift, Howard, Kennaugh, Guardini, Coquard (with Barbier some positions ahead), Guerao.
Uh-oh, this doesn't look good for some sprinters! The sprint trains are working so well and moving so fast that they have finally caught the breakaway - and created a gap with the rest of the peloton with 2km to go!
We can see the following riders ahead:
Edmondson
Kneisky
Baska
Van Avermaet
Venturini
Nelson
Vermeltfoort
Soupe
Speirs
Oram
Ewan
Brus
Bewley
Kristoff
Declerq
Grosu
Howard
In between this front pack and the main group, Kennaugh, Guardini, Boeckmans and Van Stayen are desperately trying to bridge the gap, whereas others like Swift, Coquard, Guerao or Groenewegen are even further back! Can they still make their way all the way up?
1.5km to go, and while the Moser train with Soupe - Bewley, and the Indosat one with Speirs - Kristoff are still on the rails with full speed, Ewan is already passing his leadout Nelson.
The situation is not much better for eBuddy, where Brus is still ahead of his leader, but Grosu has lost his wheel and is still being closely followed by Howard. Kennaugh has overtaken these two and is about to reach the front group, while Guardini and Boeckmans are still trying to get to Howard's wheel.
It's Brus leading the fast men on the final 1,000 meters, as Grosu and Howard have made it back to the front. We have the following situation (in riding direction):
Brus
Soupe
Kristoff
Bewley
Speirs
Kennaugh
Grosu
Ewan
Howard
Nelson
Guardini
Boeckmans
Van Stayen
Baska
The helpers are gone with 400m to go - meaning that Soupe will be unable to hold on to his 3rd place overall, but he's done an excellent job for his leader!
Bewley is now on one line with Grosu, with Howard, Kennaugh and Kristoff following them closely in the second row! Guardini, a fading Ewan and Boeckmans are next.
Grosu and Bewley could take over the leader's jersey with a win, whereas Howard could even do so by getting second - the battle for yellow is definitely on!
And Howard has found the breach between Grosu and Bewley and is now ahead with just 200m remaining!
Guardini has got a fantastic speed and is already 4th, with Kennaugh and Kristoff falling behind. Could Van Stayen, Ewan or Boeckmans still get a Top 5?
Leigh Howard wins the second stage of the 2019 Tour of Qatar, and by the same occasion takes over the leader jersey!
Eduard Grosu beats Bewley for second, while Andrea Guardini secures 4th.
Peter Kennaugh gets a decent 5th place, and Michael Van Stayen overtakes Alexander Kristoff on the final meters - he had a great finish and may ask what he could have done had his position been better...
Caleb Ewan, Grosu's leadout Marco Brus and PCT sprinter Boeckmans complete the Top 10.
Next are in:
11. Kneisky
12. Swift
13. Groenewegen
14. Soupe
15. Guerao
16. Speirs
17. Nelson
18. Kemboi
19. Coquard
20. Venturini
And here's today's winner and new overall leader, Bennelong - Mitchelton's Leigh Howard! He takes over the lead in the points standings as well. The GC remains very open, as there are still 7 riders within 25 seconds - one stage win, and all can change! Gasper Katrasnik still has a comfortable lead in the youth standings, as Ewan only won 4 bonus seconds today. However, watch out for Kemboi, Leung and S. K. Andersen, as they're just 4 seconds behind Ewan!
There were no gaps today (just Korsaeth having a flat tire on the last kilometers), and Moser keeps the lead in the team standings.
Bennelong had a smart strategy today, as they sent Oram in the breakaway and didn't need to work all day long. This will change tomorrow.
The sprint trains of eBuddy and Moser worked out very well, with their sprinters getting 2nd and 3rd. On the other side, it was an extremely unsatisfying day for Swift and Coquard, who will clearly need a better strategy for stage 3. How will the race unfold? Find out tomorrow!
Tour of Qatar 
