On the occasion of the 10th edition of the Tour of Qatar, 16 teams of 8 riders will hitthe road from 6 to 11 February 2011.
The endurance riders and sprinters havealready marked this first major race of the year on their calendars. For the first timethe race will start with a prologue, 2.5 km in Cultural Village. They will then move onto 5 flat stages; to the programme: bordure formations and bunch sprints.Since 2002 the Tour of Qatar has seen the best specialists in the world ride forvictory on its asphalt, such as Cavendish, Mario Cipollini or Robbie McEwen. InDoha, however, the man with all the records is still Tom Boonen, three-time winner ofthe event.The Belgian rider’s honours also include 17 stage wins.
16 teams, the principal entries
An Post – Sean Kelly (IRL)
Astana (KAZ)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli (GBR)
FDJ (FRA)
Geox-TMC (SP)
Garmin-Cervelo (USA)
Katusha Team (RUS)
Lampre-ISD (ITA)
Luxembourg Pro Cycling Team (LUX)
Quickstep Cycling Team (BEL)
Rabobank (NED)
Skil - Shimano (NED)
Sky Pro Cycling (GBR)
Team HTC – Highroad (GBR)
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator (BEL)