Al Khor Corniche
146.5 km
Wednesday 10 February
Italy’s Francesco Chicchi claimed stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar on the Al Khor Corniche. In a bunch sprint, the Liquigas-Domo fastman outclassed his rivals to claim his first ever success in Qatar. The golden jersey remains on the shoulders of Wouter Mol whose chances of final victory are slowly increasing.
123 riders at the start; 16 teams
Breezy!
The amazing scenery in the resort of The Pearl Qatar, built on artificial islands off Doha, welcomed the start of stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar. A long day of riding (146.5km) to Al Khor then followed. As soon as the first kilometre, three riders broke away: Kohler (BMC), Sergent (TLS) and Vanmarcke (TSV). Their lead over an unresponsive bunch rapidly grew from 1’ at km 3 to a maximum 3’20 at the first intermediate sprint (km 65.5) claimed by Kohler ahead of Sergent and Vanmarcke.
With Vacansoleil controlling the break for their golden jersey Mol, the pack moved, slowly but surely, closer to the front men. At the second intermediate sprint (km 94.5) won again by Kohler ahead of Vanmarcke and Sergent, the gap had dropped down to 2’40.
With 25kms to go, the escapees still had a margin of 1-40 but they were finally caught at kilometre 130. The sprinters’ teams moved up to the front of the pack and raised the pace for a bunch sprint as they entered the town of Al Khor. While several riders failed to keep up with the rhythm, a bunch of around 50 riders fought for victory in the decisive sprint on the Corniche. Francesco Chicchi made the best of the hard work of his Liquigas squad to claim his first victory in Qatar. The Italian beat Haussler (CTT) and Juan José Haedo (SAX) to the line.
Dutch rider Wouter Mol keeps command of the overall classification. The golden jersey keeps his lead of 9” over Steurs (TSV) and 1’55 over title holder Boonen (QST). The silver and blue jerseys stay on the shoulders of Haussler (CTT) and Kluge (MRM).