After a slow day with a lot of headwind, Lars Boom and Astana teamate made a late attack with 25km to go in the first stage of the Tour of Qatar. Having been joined by Matti Breschel, they held a one-minute gap until after a treacherous cross-wind section at 14km to the finish.

The attack was a bit of a surprise as Boom is one of the overall contenders and the offensive had little chance of success. However, he had a special reason to make his move.

“It was a long day – if we didn’t attack, we would have finished in the dark," he said.

In a reduced group finish into and across a strong desert wind, sprinter Andrea Guardini fought to remain upright between physically larger rivals and the race fence barrier, and crossed the line in eighth.

Monday sees a longer, 194km stage two, Tuesday is an 11km prologue-style individual time trial well-suited for a specialist like Boom.