Qatar is looking to re-enter the cycling game, and they’ve enlisted former WorldTour Sports Director and Grand Tour stage-winner Rik Verbrugghe to help.
Cor Vos
A decade ago there was one race that typified the month of February on the cycling calendar. It’s been away since 2016, but the sprinter’s dream race through the Arabian Desert is set to return in 2027, as work is underway to bring back the men’s and women’s Tour of Qatar.
Established in 2002, the men’s Tour of Qatar ran for 15 years before disappearing due to a loss in sponsorship, with Mark Cavendish winning the race’s final edition. The Ladies Tour of Qatar ran from 2009 to 2016 and was won four times by German Kirsten Wild. The Tours of Qatar were pioneering races in the Middle East and paved the way for Qatar to host the UCI Road World Championships in 2016.
After that, the Qataris were almost entirely absent from the sport for a decade. However, since being awarded hosting duties for the 2030 Asian Games, the oil-rich nation has begun making moves to re-invest in cycling once more in a bid to catch up with other Gulf states.
While the Tours of Qatar were viewed as races for the sprinters, the General Classification would often be decided by the wind. The race became famous for brutal echelon racing, often splitting into small groups as the Classics teams put their biggest riders to the front.
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2001 Fléche Wallonne winner and ex-WorldTour sports director Rik Verbrugghe has been hired as the nation’s national coach and construction of a new velodrome in Doha is being planned alongside the proposed Tour of Qatar resurrection.
The Details
For several years, Qatar became the go-to place for riders to warm up for the Spring Classics, with a block of warm-but-tough racing through the desert serving as a perfect tune-up to the opening weekend. Tom Boonen, who holds the record for the most wins in the men’s Tour of Qatar with four, particularly favoured opening his season in Qatar before the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Flanders. Qatari organisers are planning to produce something similar for the proposed 2027 reboot.
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