Team 2nd in TTT, Boonen Still in GC Lead

Team 2nd in TTT, Boonen Still in GC Lead

Tom Boonen will take the gold leader's jersey into stage 3 of Tour of Qatar by three hundredths of a second, as Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team finished second to Garmin-Barricuda by seven seconds in the stage 2, 11.3 km team time trial on Tuesday.

Boonen was seen taking lengthy pulls at the front, and threw his bike over the line. That bike throw very well could have kept him in the general classification (GC) lead.

Matthew Brammeier did plenty of work as well at the front, including working his way back to the group after losing them briefly on a turn early on the course.

"Overall I'm happy with our guys' race ," said Sports Director Wilfried Peeters. "At the intermediate we had the same time as team Garmin but we made a minor error in a right curve which cost us a few seconds. In general anyway, the guys are in good shape. In the next stages it's going to be important to control the race well with the help of the other teams gunning for the general classification and try to win another stage. We'll see how it goes day by day."

There are also three other Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team riders in the top 10, including Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Francesco Chicchi and Gert Steegmans. They are all within 10 seconds of the GC lead.

Team Sky was third, nine seconds back.

Video footage by Eurosport