Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) extended his lead in the Tour of Qatar by finishing 5th in today's time trial and he now finds himself in  perfect position with three stages to go. With tomorrow expected to be a very windy day, however, the Dutchman warns that he has to stay aware.

After showing amazing form in the first two stages, Niki Terpstra was always expected to benefit from today's time trial in the Tour of Qatar to extend his overall lead in the desert race. By finishing 5th in the stage, he did so in perfect fashion, again showing his excellent TT skills.

Terpstra finished 7 seconds down on 2nd place finisher Lars Boom (Belkin ProCycling), who was the only GC rider to gain time on him. That gap was easily small enough to put Terpstra back in the leader's jersey for the third straight stage. He also still has the points jersey.
 

"I feel good but a time trial is never easy," Terpstra said. "I was always fighting against the time, against the wind, but I felt I had some power on the pedals. But you only know in the end how you did when the time shows up. I'm really happy I still have the lead in the GC."

A windy day is expected tomorrow and this means that the GC could be again shaken up. Being surrounded by the strongest team, Terpstra has every reason to be confident but he issues a warning that awareness is needed.

"For tomorrow it's never a surprise that the wind is the biggest enemy," he said. "I have to be awake the whole day, together with my team, and always stay in the first group if and when the peloton splits. We'll do our best to keep the leader's jersey."

OPQS placed three riders in the top 10 for the third day in a row. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck continues to have a strong Tour of Qatar having also assisted Terpstra in his stage 1 victory with selfless work in a breakaway. He finished 6th on Tuesday, 13" down on Hepburn. His hard work has placed him in the White Pearl Jersey for best young rider. Gert Steegmans rounded out the top 10, 17" down.

Tom Boonen remains in the top 5 of the GC after the third stage, in 4th place (+28").

Starting at 12.45 CET you can follow tomorrow's stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live. You can read our preview of the windy stage here.