Qatar tour
The Qatar Tour (also Tour of Qatar ; Arabic طواف قطر, DMG Ṭawāf Qaṭar ) was a stage cycle race held from 2002 to 2016 in Qatar on the Persian Gulf .
history
The race took place annually at the end of January / beginning of February and initially ran over five stages and since 2008, after a team time trial, over six stages. From 2009 on, the Ladies Tour of Qatar was also held.
The competition was organized by the Amaury Sport Organization . There were strong connections to Eddy Merckx . The winter weather, which was warmer than in Europe, and good organization regularly resulted in a good cast, although there was little public interest on site. In terms of sport, the tour of Qatar favored classic specialists in particular and was often characterized by strong winds on a flat topography, which split the peloton into wind staggering . Eight out of fifteen editions were won by drivers from the Quick Step team , including four times by Tom Boonen .
From 2005 to 2016 the Tour of Qatar was part of the UCI Asia Tour and was initially classified in UCI Category 2.1. In 2012 the race was upgraded to the UCI category 2.HC. The competition was in the calendar of the UCI World Tour 2017 in the calendar of the UCI World Tour added, but canceled for financial reasons in December 2016th
From 2009 to 2016, the Qatar Tour was also held for women as the Ladies Tour of Qatar . In the first few years the race was divided into four stages, but in 2013 it was extended by one stage. The 2017 women's race was canceled like the men's race.
Palmarès men's race
winner
Most successful stage winners
driver | country | Stages |
---|---|---|
Tom Boonen | Belgium | 22nd |
Mark Cavendish | United Kingdom | 9 |
Alexander Kristoff | Norway | 6th |
Alberto Loddo | Italy | 3 |
Francesco Chicchi | Italy | 2 |
Heinrich Haussler | Australia | 2 |
Robert Hunter | South Africa | 2 |
Niki Terpstra | Netherlands | 2 |
Thorsten Wilhelms | Germany | 2 |
As of February 12, 2016
Palmarès women's race
|
|
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Tour of Qatar canceled over sponsor woes. velonews.com, December 28, 2016, accessed March 21, 2017 .
- ↑ Eschborn-Frankfurt will be part of the WorldTour from 2017. radsport-news.com, August 2, 2016, accessed August 5, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Men and women tours in Qatar canceled. radsport-news.com, December 28, 2016, accessed January 1, 2016 .
- ↑ Ladies Tour of Qatar with one more stage on radsport-news.com v. January 7, 2013
Web links
- Tour of Qatar in the ProCyclingStats.com database
- Ladies Tour of Qatar in the ProCyclingStats.com database
- Tour of Qatar on letour.fr (English / French)
- Ladies Tour of Qatar on letour.fr (English / French)