The young Italian Andrea Guardini leads Astana Pro Team at the Tour of Qatar.

Astana Pro Team heads to the Middle East this weekend to start the Tour of Qatar, a six-day stage race based around the gulf state's capital city Doha.

The race runs February 3-8 and will cover 732 kilometres, featuring a fast, windy terrain of flat roads. Organized by ASO, this race features sprint finishes and is known for the extremely high calibre peloton attracted by warm, sunny weather and comfortable early-season logistics.

"The Tour of Qatar is a very windy race, and the speeds are very fast. We expect the peloton to split up every day, and for the strongest riders to remain at the front. Our work will be based around Guardini. If he is in good shape then everything will be to work for him”.

“We also have Bozic, Gruzdev and Grivko going very strong right now, and that gives us plenty of options. With all of the choices we have, we are hoping for one stage victory at the Tour of Qatar", said Assistant Director Sportif Gorazd Stangelj.

Astana Pro Team line-up
Borut Bozic
Andrey Grivko
Dmitri Gruzdev
Andrea Guardini
Jacopo Guarnieri
Evan Huffman
Arman Kamyshev
Dmitry Muravyev