The Tour of Qatar enters a new dimension for edition 15, while the UCI Road World Championships loom at the end of the season in October also in and around Doha. From the 8th of February to the 13th, the Qatari event will take on a dress rehearsal character, where each of the world-class sprinters competing in the Tour of Qatar will look to gain a psychological edge over his rivals on the five stages race. With the exception of the individual time trial (11.4km), scheduled for day three in the vicinity of the Lusail sports facilities, the final sprint specialists will be in the February spotlight. But in order to adorn the leader’s Gold jersey and to dream a bit more about the world champion’s rainbow jersey, a rider must best cope with the particularities of the route and the weather, that at times have given the Tour of Qatar a Flemish classic feel.

In 2016 Qatar will host two highly anticipated events by the riders. In this early part of the year, the Tour of Qatar will provide the peloton an opportunity to ride 145,5 km on the future world championship circuit during stage 2 of the race, which will act as a dress rehearsal at the dawn of a promising campaign and the Qatar World Championships, in October, that will be one of the season’s highlights.

The field will live up to the level of the event with a horde of sprinters ready to battle. Among them, we will closely follow the third outing of Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) in the colours of his new team. The 2013 Tour of Qatar victor will be led out in the sprints by the likes of Mark Renshaw, Tyler Farrar and Edvald Boassen Hagen. The British star will face competition from excellent sprinters such as Alexander Kristoff (Katusha),  as well as Sacha Modolo (Lampre – Merida), Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) and Andrea Palini (Skydive – Dubaï), who started the season strong, in addition to future sprint stars Moreno Hofland (Lotto NL – Jumbo) and Rick Zabel (BMC), who put in some impressive results last season.

Others will head to Qatar to continue their preparation for the Flemish Spring classics. Greg van Avermaet (BMC), 3rd in last year’s Paris-Roubaix, could be the fly in the ointment of the pack more or less comprised of members of the sprint teams if, as in years past the weather conditions including the wind shake up the peloton. And finally, the 11.4km time trial on day three will too offer a fine opportunity for the specialists of the exercise to go for the Gold jersey and overall victory. At Astana, the two Dutch riders, Lars Boom and Lieuwe Westra will have a chance to join their countryman Niki Terpstra in the Tour of Qatar record books.

This year the race has been shortened from six to five stages.

The 2016 Tour of Qatar route:

Stage 1, Monday 8 February: Dukhan – Al Khor Corniche, 176 km

Stage 2, Tuesday 9 February: Test Event Doha 2016, 145,5 km

Stage 3, Wednesday 10 February: Lusail Circuit, 11.4 km

Stage 4, Thursday 11 February: Al Zubarah Fort – Madinat Al Shamal, 189 km

Stage 5, Friday 12 February: Sealine Beach Resort – Doha Corniche, 114 km