Tour of Qatar Course Preview - Sprinters Challenge
704 kilometers of racing on the flat terrain and warm temperatures of Qatar
presents a perfect locale for six days of sprinters duels as the best of the
fast legs test the legs of their rivals for 2010.
Tour of Qatar: History
The Tour of Qatar is a stage race Qatar conducted by the Qatar Cycling
Federation and run by the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), the group that runs
the Tour de France, amongst other races. The Tour of Qatar was first run in
2002. Despite the heat and wind of the desert that is the Qatari landscape, the
race has gradually become an important event for riders eager to get racing
kilometers in their legs, to prepare for the Spring Classics season.
As the terrain of the route is almost completely flat, the race attracts
sprinters for a first test of their legs against their season rivals - a quick
look at the race's previous winners shows that the race is usually won by a
sprinter.
The undisputed master of Qatar`s hot, flat roads is the Belgian Tom Boonen.
"Super Tom" has won 15 stages, 5 points classification trophies, and has won the
overall 3 times. When Boonen first won the Tour of Qatar in 2005, he then went
on to have his best year, winning the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, the green
jersey at the Tour de France and the World Championships. Quite a year!
Unfortunately last year's race, won by Boonen, was marred by the death of
Frederik Nolf, who was only 21 years old. He died in his sleep after suffering a
heart attack, and the next day`s racing was neutralized to pay respect to Nolf.
Boonen was a good friend of Nolf, and said at the time; “It's difficult to know
which words I can use to express myself and my sadness, I find it terrible, and
we’ll just have to keep going."
This year's race promises to be an exciting one, as many big-name sprinters
and Classics contenders head for the tiny Gulf state. Boonen will be trying to
claim a fourth overall against some of the biggest names in professional
cycling.
The 2010 Route & Race Details
Running from February Sunday 7th to Friday 12th, the 2010 Tour of Qatar is 6
stages, a total of 704 kilometres.
This year the Tour of Qatar begins with an 8.2 kilometre team time trial.
The longest stage is the second, at 147kms. One word really is enough to
describe each of the stages - flat.
Tour of Qatar UCI 2.1 - Stages
February 7 - 12
Stage 1: West Bay Lagoon West Bay Lagoon TTT 8.2 km
Stage 2: Camel Race Track Qatar Foundation 147 km
Stage 3: Dukhan Mesaieed 136.5 km
Stage 4: The Pearl Al Khor Corniche 146.5 km
Stage 5: Lusail Madinat Al Shamal 142 km
Stage 6: Al Wakra Doha Corniche 123.5 km
Total Distance: 704 km
Details: Teams, Jerseys and Purse:
16 teams of 8 riders
3 jerseys
Gold - Overall Individual
Silver - Overall Points
Blue - Best Young Rider
There is 105,985 €* of prize money including 9,200**
Euros for the overall winner.
* USA $145,277.90 - 92,331.66 British Pounds
** USA $12,612.37 - 8,014.07 British Pounds
The race is classified as a UCI 2.1 race; it is part of the UCI Asian
calendar, rated a Class 1 event open to Elite Men.
UCI Points:
General Classification points (top 12 riders): 80, 56, 32, 24, 20, 16, 12,
8, 7, 6,5, 3.
Stage Points top 6 riders: 16,11,6, 5, 4, 2
•Winner’s jersey at the end of each stage: 8 points.
The elimination deadline for riders is 12% over the winners time for each stage.
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