Following the Dubai Tour the racing in the desert continues this weekend with the 14th edition of the Tour of Qatar. Marcel Kittel continues his early season in Qatar after starting at the Tour Down Under, where he won the warm-up criterium, The People's Choice Classic. He is joined by a strong lead-out and several fast finishers.

Team Giant-Alpecin is sending a strong line-up to Qatar with others around Kittel capable of getting a strong result if the race splits up, including Nikias Arndt and Ramon Sinkeldam.

For most it will mark the start of the 2015 season following a well-planned and executed few months of training and preparations.

"For this race we have five flat, open stages and one time trial and we have a team that can perform well here," confirmed coach Marc Reef. "If the weather conditions are relatively calm we can aim for the sprints with Marcel, but if the race splits up in the crosswinds then we will need to adapt and be ready for this. We have lots of guys here who can do something though so we have options. It is also an important race for us to focus on teamwork and to get the sprint formation back up to speed, finding our autonomy once again.

"Marcel and Albert come to the race off the back of the Tour Down Under so they already have a week's racing in their legs. The rest have been working hard at training camps and are ready to race. For the GC we will look to see what is possible with day-by-day as anything can happen in this race."

LINE-UP
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Bert De Backer (BEL)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Georg Preidler (AUT)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
Tom Veelers (NED)