Alexander Kristoff won stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar, as his Katusha team again dominated the sprint, providing him with a perfect lead out and allowing him to set up a shot at overall victory on Friday’s final stage.
Kristoff beat Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) to the line, with his teammate Jacopo Guarnieri taking third place and the final time bonus. Sam Bennett (Bora Argon 18) finished fourth and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) was fifth as the peloton split under the huge effort of the Katusha team into a crosswind in the final kilometre.
Race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) punctured in the final 10 kilometres of the stage and, after changing the wheel and then the bike, lost contact with the front group. He chased hard with several teammates but became stuck in the big chase group as the LottoNL-Jumbo, BMC and then Katusha teams gave it everything at the head of the front group of 25 riders.
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Boasson Hagen lost 45 seconds and his race lead. Cavendish took the gold jersey but Van Avermaet is now only two seconds back, with Kristoff fourth overall at just 9 seconds. Boasson Hagen slipped to fifth at 19 seconds.
Friday’s fifth and final stage is 114km long and finishes on the Doha Corniche. With time bonuses up for grabs in two intermediate sprints during the 10 laps of the Doha Corniche, and again at the finish, every second will help decide the overall winner of this year’s race.
"The team did a really good job in the final kilometre, putting me with really good speed into the sprint," said Kristoff in a post-race interview. "For me it was just to finish it off and keep the other guys behind me. I knew Cavendish was there but I think he was stuck a bit behind so it went perfectly for our team.
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