Mark Cavendish finds himself unexpectedly on the brink of a second overall victory at the Tour of Qatar after his Dimension Data teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen suffered a double puncture on the final lap of the finishing circuit at Madinal Al Shamal on Thursday.
The penultimate stage in windswept northern Qatar has traditionally seen the race splinter into echelons but for the most part, Thursday was something of collector’s item – a relatively calm day in the hinterland of Al Zubara fort.
The breeze did stiffen somewhat in the final hour of racing, and the bunch had begun to fragment under BMC’s impetus on the penultimate lap of the finishing circuit, but Boasson Hagen would surely have finished safely in the front group were it not for his misfortune.
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Instead, a flotilla of Dimension Data riders desperately tried to steady the ship by dropping back to help the stricken Boasson Hagen, while Cavendish remained moored as best he could in a front group from which Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) would eventually cruise to sprint victory.
“I’m not too worried about the gold jersey right now, I’m majorly disappointed for Edvald. He was in such a good position,” Cavendish said after the podium ceremony. “The lads rode incredible all day and controlled it. We didn’t need to control it but we did. But unfortunately Edvald punctured with less than 10k to go. BMC and Lotto-Jumbo went straight to the front full gas as soon as they heard on the radio, so there was no chance of Edvald coming back.”
Cavendish began the day in second place overall, 26 seconds down on Boasson Hagen, and while he did enough to ensure the gold jersey remained in the team, he had to settle for fifth place in the sprint behind Kristoff after he was left isolated in the finale.
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