Andrea Guardini were among the favourites in today's stage of the Tour of Qatar but after he had to fight his way back after a split in the finale, he finished off the mark.

“Winds blew the race apart until 30k to go, and the final selection for the sprint was really big," his teammate Borut Bozic said after the stage.

Bozic brought Andrea Guardini and Andrei Grivko to the front group at the end of a stage split again by crosswinds, with the Ukrainian rider holding on to ninth overall and the Italian sprinter just back from the final group at 5km to the finish.

Dmitriy Gruzdev again spent the day in a breakaway, fighting with four other riders to create a gap never more than 3 minutes on the main peloton.

Friday’s short final stage arrives on Doha’s main beachfront road, and has traditionally finished in a mass sprint.