Tom Boonen eyeing his fourth overall win at the Tour of Qatar 2012
With two stage wins and a firm grip at the overall classifications, Tom Boonen is definitely a strong candidate to walk home with his fourth Tour of Qatar overall victory.
He started the fifth stage with a massive 31 seconds lead over Tyler Farrar and a further 3 seconds over Juan Antonio Flecha.
UCI World Road Champion Mark Cavendish won the fifth stage to claim his second stage victory of the race, but he is not really a threat to Boonen’s overall position.
Daniel Oss, Peter Sagan and John Degenkolb claimed the second, third and fourth positions during the chase to Al Khor Corniche on Thursday, February 9th.
The Belgian finished the 160 kilometre stage five of the race at the 13th position and managed to keep his lead over the main competitors.
He is currently leading the stage 5 classifications with a total time of 13 hours, 21 minutes and 30 seconds.
Tyler Farrar of Team Garmin-Barracuda is 31 seconds behind at the second position, while Juan Antonio Flecha is currently occupying the third spot.
Gert Steegmans, Bernhard Eisel, Tom Veelers and Mark Cavendish are at the fourth, fifth, sixth and seven positions in the respective order.
The 31-year-old cited after the race, “I told the guys today that we could control the stage as a team, over the last few days we have really been helped by Garmin and so we hadn’t expended too much energy. Today I wanted to be really comfortable at the head of the peloton”.
He continued, “Everybody was very fresh in the final so it made for a very hectic finish. This finish line has been good to me and it has been bad to me in the past”.
The final stage of the race is scheduled on Friday and Boonen will be at his best to climb the top podium position during the 120 kilometre stage 6.
Boonen previously won the race in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
He will be tested by Tyler Farrar, Juan Antonio Flecha and Gert Steegmans, who will definitely give their best to climb the top podium spot on the final day of the Tour of Qatar 2012.
Although at the 11th position, reigning world champion, Mark Cavendish, is definitely a threat for Boonen’s overall position.
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