Strong crosswind and decisive echelons made a big selection in Stage 2 of the Tour of Qatar. Unfortunately, it was a bad day for Bardiani – CSF Pro Team. In fact, one of its leaders was involved in a crash and had to quit the race. Battaglin went down after 60km. The two-time Giro d’Italia stage winner hit the ground with the left part of his body, the same one that got injured a few weeks ago in Tour de San Luis, and for this reason he made the decision with Team Manager Roberto Reverberi to stop.

A few kilometres after the start, the same happened to Luca Sterbini who was also forced to abandon.

”Already from the first km, the echelons started," Battaglin said. "I was in a chasing group when a rider from Topsport tried to jump a bump but he went down and I couldn’t avoid him. I suffered some pain on my left side and remembering the Tour de San Luis crash, we decided to stop. This is a race that has always been a bit unlucky for me. Last year I went down heavily too. Fortunately this time it is not so serious and the withdrawal was just to prevent future problems. Now I’ll go back to Italy to restart training to get ready for Trofeo Laigueglia."