Cavendish sees Gold on Stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar, out sprinting Barry Markus (Vaconsoleil-DCM) and Andrea Guardini (Astana) to take his second stage win in as many days. The win in Al Khor Corniche boosts the Manx man into first place, two seconds clear of Bookwalter who’d led the race after a stage 1 breakaway win, and increased his lead to 13 points in the overall points competition.
A three man breakaway featuring Pirmin Lang (IAM Cycling), Andriy Grivko (Astana) and Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) built up a five minute lead, which remained high until 23kms out. Sensing the potential for another breakaway succeeding in what is renowned as a sprinters race, several teams stepped up, contributing riders to bring the trio back. With 8kms to go, the peloton had closed the gap, the pace eased as the sprinters teams began to organise themselves for a bunch sprint.
Cavendish has won two years running at Al Khor Corniche, and his experience of the finish gave him the edge needed for the win. On entering the final right hand bend, the wind comes in from the right, and naturally they hugged the corner for the shortest route. Cavendish took a different tactic, staying a little wider, he took the longer route but was sheltered from the wind giving him the “perfect position and acceleration into the sprint”
With only two stages left, and Cavendish firing on all cylinders, you wouldn’t blame him for eyeing the overall prize when the peloton roles into Doha Corniche. Currently two seconds clear, Cavendish isn’t thinking of his GC chances, instead is focusing on the stage wins with tomorrows stage, 154km from Al Zubara Fort to Madinat Al Shamal, being “the main stage of the tour”.
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