Tour of Qatar 2016: Kristoff stage 5, Cav overall in Qatar
At 114 kilometres, stage 5 in the 2016 Tour of Qatar leads to Doha for an inevitable bunch sprint. Once again it's a clash of giants with Kristoff outsprinting Cavendish by a millimetre. Still, Cav will be the happiest guy as he takes the overall. (Slideshow route/profile)
Results 5th stage Tour of Qatar
1. Alexander Kristoff (nor)
2. Mark Cavendish (gbr) s.t.
3. Roy Jans (bel) s.t.
4. Yauhoni Hutarovich (blr) s.t.
5. Sacha Modolo (ita) s.t.
6. Sam Bennett (irl) s.t.
7. Moreno Hofland (nld) s.t.
8. Edvald Boasson Hagen (nor) s.t.
9. André Looij (nld) s.t.
10. Marco Canola (ita) s.t
GC after stage 5
1. Mark Cavendish (gbr)
2. Alexander Kristoff (nor) + 0.05
3. Greg Van Avermaet (bel) + 0.08
4. Manuel Quinziato (ita) + 0.12
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (nor) + 0.25
6. Soren Kragh Andersen (den) + 0.36
7. Sam Bennett (irl) + 0.47
8. Sven Erik Bystrom (nor) + 0.55
9. Viacheslav Kuznetsov (rus) + 0.56
10. Michael Schar (swi) + 1.04
Race report
With winds blowing at 45 kmph, the riders leave Beachline Bay Resort. Soon Steven Tronet, Jesse Sergent and Tim Declercq break clear to race to a maximum advantage of almost 4 minutes.
While entering the closing circuit in Doha the gap is down to 2'10" and with 10 kms to go the escapees are caught
Just like in stage 2, the race offers a bunch sprint par excellence. Shoulder to shoulder Kristoff and Cav pass the line and a photo finish is needed to decide the winner is of Norwegian origin. However, as he takes 6 bonus seconds to Kristoff 10, the Briton wins his second Tour of Qatar because he earlier he left Beachline Bay Resort with a comfortable 9 seconds lead under his belt.
Cav's first Qatar victory was in 2013.
