Norway’s Kristoff braves sandstorm to win Stage II and snatch overall lead

By Yash Mudgal/DohaAlexander Kristoff of Katusha Team won the second stage of the Tour of Qatar and moved into overall lead on a high-speed sandstorm-hit day of racing that saw the peloton shattered by crosswinds on the long road to Al Khor Corniche after a 187.5-km ride from Al Wakrah yesterday.The 27-year-old rider won a bunch sprint and held off Italian Andrea Guardini of Astana and BMC rider Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium for his first victory of the season.Peter Sagan of Tinkoff-Saxo and four-time champion Tom Boonen of Etixx-QuickStep were also in the elite first group but they had to settle for fourth and fifth respectively.

After picking up three points and three seconds at the second intermediate sprint of the day, Boonen was in line to move into the gold jersey but he failed to pick up a time bonus at the finish and lies second overall, one second behind Kristoff, while Van Avermaet of BMC is three seconds adrift.  “I am really happy today with this victory. Finally I managed to win here in Qatar! It was a really hard day, but my legs were ok. I felt good during the whole stage and my team supported me. The guys really did excellent work today as well as yesterday, too. They kept me safe all day and I could save some energy for the final,” Kristoff, who won two stages at last year’s Tour de France, said.“It was a very long final sprint. I bridged up to Terpstra and Guardini who had a little gap and with 500m to go I went full gas. I felt I had it under control but Guardini is a fast guy, I was only sure when I crossed the finish line. “Of course, I was a little bit tired at the end, but I think everyone in the group was in same condition, because the last part of the stage was hard. But I was able to win the sprint and this is great! “This is my earliest victory ever in my career and I am happy. The windy conditions today suited me very well. In Norway I live at the coast and we even have more wind there,” he added.The stage saw an extremely fast start, and it was no surprise when cracks began to appear in the bunch. Etixx-QuickStep riders continued to force the issue on the front, forcing more splits in the field. Stage one winner Rojas, World Time Trial champion Bradley Wiggins of Sky and Lars Boom of Astana were among those caught out as the Belgian team attempted to help Boonen to the top of the general classification. Around halfway through the stage, Van Avermaet led a four-man group off the front which gained almost a minute on the peloton. However, the quartet was unable to hold off the charge from the reduced field, and they were swept up after around 20km out in the front.By the time the run-in to the finish came about, the front group had been reduced to a mere 15 riders, with Marcel Kittel of Giant-Shimano, Arnaud Demare of FDJ and Fabian Cancellara of Trek among the big names unable to handle the high tempo, strong crosswinds and sandstorms.Last year’s winner Niki Terpstra of Etixx-QuickStep went about setting Boonen up for the final sprint, but as on Stage 1, the Dutchman was outfought by the riders around him.Kristoff was the only man to judge the tricky final sprint to perfection, as he finished ahead of Guardini.Overnight leader Jose Joaquin Rojas of Movistar had to relinquish his position at the top of the table to Kristoff as he failed to be in the lead group. Wiggins again missed the day’s decisive split to finish 109th. Now he will be eyeing today’s time trial stage.Boonen captures the Silver Jersey of points classification, while Sagan claimed the White Pearl Jersey for the best young rider. The third stage will feature a 10.9km individual time-trial around the Lusail Circuit today.