Doha Golf Club, Qatar, 2009-02-03

Kohler spends day in break, Zberg takes 8th in stage

The BMC Racing Team was pleased to have posted its first top 10 finish of the season in Stage 3 of the Tour of Qatar. Having successfully joined the elite 20 rider lead group, Swiss National Champion Markus Zberg placed 8th in the bunch sprint which was won by Qatar favourite, Tom Boonen of Quick-Step.

Sprinter Martin Kohler added to the success of the day for BMC by leaping into the long breakaway for the stage. Kohler\’s performance kept him close to the leaders and by the finish managed to stay with the second group with only a 1:30 deficit.

Strong riding by the team helps Zberg move up GC

“We had a really good day today,” John Lelangue was happy to report. After racing only 3 km, between 5 and 7 echelons had already formed. “The priority for the day was to keep Markus well placed, and the guys worked very hard to make that happen,” Lelangue said. Around the 25 km mark, a shift in the wind brought the groups back together, at which point Martin Kohler joined the Polish National Champion, Marcin Sapa in the day’s long break. “Martin’s joining that break was good for him and for the team; we were then able to focus on keeping Markus up front,” Lelangue explained. The peloton gave the two escapees a certain amount of freedom which they stretched to a 7 minute advantage. But once they lost the tail wind, the task for two riders became more and more difficult. “When the groups began to split into echelons again, our guys were very alert and worked hard to bring Markus into position,” Lelangue said. “Markus is such an experienced rider that he knew just where to be to make the lead group.”

Zberg tallies team’s first top 10 for 2009

Once Zberg made the move for the front group, the race was just a matter of staying alert and keeping up with the race leaders. “The lead group of 20 eventually caught Martin, and though he was able to stick with Markus for a while, he was too tired from the effort to finish in the lead group,” Lelangue said. Only 5 or 6 teams were represented in the front 20 which meant that there was a powerful chase taking shape behind. “There were a lot of big teams like Garmin, Rabobank and Milram that missed out on the main group of the day,” Lelangue said. “So the second group was chasing very hard and finished around one minute thirty behind.” Markus’ success on the day moved him up into the top 20 on the GC, and with multiple difficult days remaining, there is every hope that he can continue his forward progress.

Looking to the next stages

“Our strategy of working entirely for Markus is turning out well for us,” Lelangue said. “Tomorrow the winds should be totally different than today, so we will have to take that into account in our team plans; there will be a long finishing straight for the sprint to the line, so without a doubt we will want to put Markus in position for another successful finish.” The fact that so many strong sprinting teams are finding it difficult to place even one rider in the lead group indicates just how tricky riding in these conditions can be. “These stages are very difficult and very tactical. Yesterday we missed the move by a hairs width, but today we were successful,” Lelangue concluded. “We will work to build on this success and carry our momentum through the end of the race.”