Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his impressive run of success when he took his third win of the race on stage 5 of the Tour of Qatar. After his Katusha team had briefly dropped race leader Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep) with an attack inside the final 5km, a small group sprinted for the win, with the Norwegian narrowly holding off Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin). Terpstra managed to rejoin the peloton and defended his overall lead on the eve of the final stage.

Alexander Kristoff has clearly proved that he is the strongest rider in the Tour of Qatar and the Norwegian has been unstoppable in the first few days of the race. Today he continued what he describes as his best ever start to a season when he took a third stage win in just five days of racing.

Just like yesterday Kristoff held off Peter Sagan and Nikias Arndt in a sprint but unlike yesterday it was no big peloton that arrived at the finish. In fact, the crosswinds had turned the race into a very animated one with drama occurring several times throughout the day.

Right from the gun, Trek split the field and as Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) who was sitting in second overall, had missed the split, the chase was on. For a long time, Tinkoff-Saxo were chasing hard in a second group that was around 30 seconds behind but after 63km of very fast racing, they finally managed to rejoin the leaders.

This allowed the race to set into a rhythm, with five riders going on the attack, and it seemed that the wind was not strong enough to split the field. At one point, Katusha managed to catch Niki Terpstra off guard but things quickly came back together.

As the riders entered the 13.5km finishing circuit that was to be covered twice, Etixx-QuickStep tried a similar move but as the overall contenders were all attentive, it all came back together. However, the move spelled the end for the breakaway and it seemed that we were heading for a full-on bunch sprint.

Nonetheless, Katusha had different plans and with less than 5km to go, Sven Erik Bystrøm, Jacopo Guarnieri, Luca Paolini and Kristoff hit the front, creating a split behind the first 10 riders. Only the Tinkoff-Saxo trio of Sagan, Bodnar and Matti Breschel, the Etixx-QuickStep duo of Tom Boonen and Guillaume van Keirsbulck and Adam Blythe (Orica-GreenEDGE) had made the selection, meaning that Terpstra had been caught out.

The Katusha team worked hard to maintain the gap but as they approached the flamme rouge, several riders managed to latch onto the back. Finally, a bigger group also got back, with Terpstra being one of the riders to regain contact.

Tinkoff-Saxo now hit the front with Breschel but they were passed by the Katusha pair of Guarnieri and Kristoff. Like yesterday Kristoff did a long sprint and again Sagan tried to come off his wheel. However, the Norwegian again turned out to be the strongest, holding off the Slovakian in another photo finish, with Arndt completing the podium for the second day in a row.

With the win, Kristoff moved into third overall and he is now only 11 seconds behind Terpstra. He gets a chance to take it all tomorrow when the race finishes with another flat stage that ends with the traditional 10 laps of a circuit in Doha. A bunch sprint is expected and with bonus seconds at both the finish and the intermediate sprints, Kristoff has a chance to take the overall victory on the final day.

A windy stage

After yesterday’s slow stage, crosswinds action was expected for stage 5 which brought the riders over 153km from Al Zubarah Fort to Madinat al Shamal. After a first part with a cross-headwind, the riders turned into a cross-tailwind as they headed along the usual flat desert roads. In the end, they did two laps of a 13.5km finishing circuit on the northern tip of the Qatari peninsula.

The riders took the start under an unusually cloudy sky and with the usual strong wind even though it had abated since yesterday. With the crosswind blowing right from the start, the action started from the beginning, with Trek splitting the group immediately after the flag had been dropped.

Bodnar loses contact

Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) were among the first to get dropped while Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) was unfortunate to puncture at the worst possible time. Meanwhile, the peloton split into three groups, with Arnaud Demare (FDJ) being among the big losers as he found himself in the third one.

55 riders had made it into the front group which contained prominent names like Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Luke Rowe (Sky), Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), Ian Stannard (Sky), Lars Boom (Astana) and Heinrich Haussler (IAM). However, Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) had missed the split and found himself in the second group.

Tinkoff-Saxo chase hard

In that group he got some assistance from Fabian Cancellara (Trek) who worked hard to close the 20-second gap. Meanwhile, Wiggins, Danny Pate (Sky) and Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Alpecin) were among the many riders to drop back to the third group.

At the 12km mark, the gap was 25 seconds and now Tinkoff-Saxo were working hard to bring Bodnar back to the front. They brought it down to 18 seconds but then started to lose group as it 27 seconds at the 20km mark and 32 seconds at the 25km mark.

A stable gap

Several riders got dropped from both the first and second groups, with Filippo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida) being among the riders to lose contact with the latter. Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) had originally made it into the first group but he gradually dropped back to the third.

At the 43km mark, the gap had stabilized around the 30-second mark and at the end of the first hour during which the riders had covered 49.6km, the front group had been whittled down to 37 riders. However, Tinkoff-Saxo were now winning the fight and after 63km of racing, the two groups merged.

A break takes off

The peloton calmed down a bit and this allowed Ben Hermans (BMC) to attack. After a short chase, he was joined by Marco Haller (Katusha), Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen) and later Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana) also made the junction.

Suddenly, Katusha surprised everybody by launching a strong attack and briefly Terpstra lost contact with the first group. White jersey holder Rowe had bad luck as he needed a rear wheel change just at this moment.

Terpstra rejoins the peloton

Terpstra and Rowe managed to rejoin the peloton which again calmed down. Meanwhile, Theo Bos (MTN-Qhubeka) abandoned the race after he had gone down in a crash.

Hayman beat Wallays and Gruzdev in the first intermediate sprint with 66km to go at which point the peloton was 1.30 behind.  As the peloton had now slowed completely down, a 30-rider group with Boom and Bouhanni got back.

Tinkoff-Saxo in control

While Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) also rejoined the peloton, the gap reached 2.35 as the riders passed the 100km mark. Dominique Rollin (Cofidis) and Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEDGE) both went down in a crash which forced the latter to abandon.

With 30km to go, Tinkoff-Saxo had taken control of the peloton, with Pavel Brutt setting a fast pace that brought the gap down to just 40 seconds. However, the escapees did well to respond and shortly after Hayman had led Wallays and Gruzdev across the line to start the first lap of the finishing circuit and win the final intermediate sprint, the gap was back up to 1.05.

Etixx-QuickStep try to split the peloton

With 20km to go, Etixx-QuickStep tried to attack in the crosswinds, with Boonen and Terpstra both taking some huge turns. While Rowe and Haussler both got dropped, the break was caught.

However, the peloton calmed down again and things were back together as they started the final lap, with Brutt again working on the front for Tinkoff-Saxo. However, the fight for position was now brutal and it was Astana who took over with Lieuwe Westra.

Like yesterday Orica-GreenEDGE came to the fore, with both Svein Tuft and Brett Lancaster taking big turns, before Van Keirsbulck tried to attack in the wind for Etixx-QuickStep. However, he was quickly passed by the Katusha riders and what first looked like a lead-out turned out to be more than that as their fast pace briefly created a split, with only 10 riders making the front group. In the end, however, a bigger group came back together and Kristoff took another sprint win.