Team Sky were some of the winners in yesterday's windy stage of the Tour of Qatar and put Ian Stannard, Bernhard Eisel and Luke Rowe in the 24-rider group that formed near the end. The team is now targeting the overall podium with Stannard.

Ian Stannard climbed to seventh place at the Tour of Qatar after sprinting to sixth spot on another dramatic day in the desert. Stannard battled his way onto the right side of a 24-man split after crosswinds and crashes had splintered the peloton in the final hour of action, and some solid work from Luke Rowe and Bernhard Eisel kept that bunch clear as they entered the Al Khor Coniche.

Rowe and Eisel both peeled off before Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Belisol) led out a seven-man sprint, yet Stannard stayed right in the mix as Boonen (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) jumped clear to claim a comfortable victory over Michael Morkov (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol).

Niki Terpstra retained his grip on the leader’s jersey after rolling home behind Stannard in seventh position, although the Omega Pharma – Quick-Step rider’s lead was cut to five seconds after Roelandts swept up four bonus seconds in the finale. Stannard meanwhile, sits just 26 off the pace heading into Tuesday's potentially-decisive time trial.

 “It was a tough day for sure but a good day of racing,” said Sports Director Servais Knaven after the stage. “A few times the peloton split into different groups and twice it came back together. Then in the final it was really fast racing with two groups chasing each other. The first group just stayed away with a gap of nearly 50 seconds.”

That time could prove decisive in the fight for the GC, but with the race throwing up unpredictable action as always, Knaven is happy to see the team pulling together.

“It was some good riding from the team,” he continued. “We have Ian here who is our GC guy. The main thing was that he didn’t lose time today and the whole team helped to make sure he was in the right position in the cross-winds. Then we had Luke and Bernie there with him in the break. And everyone else did well to help make that happen.

“Having three guys in a group of 24 was good. Tinkoff-Saxo had four [five, ed.] and obviously we’ve seen Quick-Step are the specialists. But we can be pleased with how we rode.”

With another big chance to take time coming with Tuesday’s time trial, Knaven is hoping Stannard can continue his progress against the clock.

“The big goal is to try to finish on the podium in GC at the end of the week. Right now Ian is seventh so it’s looking good. There are some good specialists here with guys like Terpstra and Lars Boom. But Ian is riding strong so we will see what happens tomorrow.”

Starting at 12.45 CET you can follow the time trial on CyclingQuotes.com/live. You can read our preview here.