Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Tom Boonen is clearly a step ahead in the first face-off of the season winning four stages in the Tour of Qatar. Boonen took the bunch sprint over Petacchi three times and was able to get into a break and avoid cross winds for a fourth stage win. Boonen missed the podium only once when [...]

(pic from letour.fr)
The sprinters battle is leaning heavily to Tom Boonen as he took his second consecutive stage win ahead of arch-rival super sprinter Alessandro Petacchi. The sprint was almost an exact repeat of yesterday’s stage win minus the brutal crash by Tom Steels which resulted in a broken collarbone.
The two wins so early [...]

Boonen Congratulates Team: pic from letour.fr
The “battle of sprinters” is taking shape as Tom Boonen took the first round in the Tour of Qatar. Boonen took the overall lead after winning the stage beating Alessandro Petacchi in a mass gallup to the line.

The Tour of Qatar is the first showdown between Alessandro Petacchi and Tom Boonen. Last year the two had some head to head battles leading up to the first big classic of the year. Milan San-Remo was supposed to be a showdown of the two sprinters, but Boonen’s Quick-Step teammate spoiled the battle with a [...]

Tom Boonen won the final stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar in a dominating show of sprinting prowess. Boonen’s only loss came yesterday as he was beaten by both Bernhard Eisel and Erik Zabel.

Eisel was quick to point out that he only won because Boonen was having shifting issues.
Boonen commented on his current [...]

Early season racing hits the Middle East with racing in Doha and the Tour of Qatar. The Doha International GP will take place on Jan 27th and will feature the debut of Erik “Zoom Zoom” Zabel with his new Milram team. Petacchi will not be present, so Zabel gets to test out the leadout train [...]