Mark Cavendish crashed during a bunch sprint on the final stage of the Tour of Qatar, a race won for the fourth time by the Belgian, Tom Boonen.
Cavendish (Team Sky) collided with the American sprinter, Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), in a mass sprint for the finish line in Doha Corniche, at the end of a 120km stage from Sealine Beach Resort.
The stage was won by the French rider, Arnaud Demare (FDJ-Big Mat), who finished ahead of Katusha’s Denis Galimzyanov, and Cavendish’s former lead out man, the Australian, Mark Renshaw (Rabobank).
Team Sky director sportif, Steven de Jongh, said the Manx Missile had emerged unscathed from the collision.
“Cav touched the back wheel of Farrar during the sprint. He wanted to go but Kluge came across and he hesitated a bit. He wanted to go again but then they touched wheels with Farrar and went down.
“It’s a pity to finish the race that way but luckily we have two wins and he has nothing broken so we can move onto Oman now,” said De Jongh.
Cavendish finished sixth overall, 33 seconds behind Sky teammate, Juan Antonia Flecha, who was third, and 1:05 behind overall winner, Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).
The Belgian’s team controlled the pace in the closing kilometres, with RoadCyclingUK columnist, Matt Brammeier, taking several turns at the head of fast-moving peloton to reel in a seven-man breakaway within the last 14km.
Boonen’s overall victory, his fourth in Qatar, represents the team’s second win in as many races. The American rider, Levi Leipheimer, finished on the top step of the podium at Argentina’s Tour de San Luis earlier this month.
Tour of Qatar stage six
1) Arnaud Demare (Fra) – FDJ-Big Mat
2) Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) – Katusha
3) Mark Renshaw (Aus) – Rabobank
4) Roger Kluge (Ger) – Project 1t4i
5) Alexander Kristoff (Nor) – Katusha
6) Tyler Farrar (USA) – Garmin-Barracuda
7) Daniel Oss (Ita) – Liquigas-Cannondale
8) Allan Davis (Aus) – GreenEdge Cycling Team
9) Aaron Kemps (Aus) – Champion System
10) Jens Debusschere (Bel) – Lotto Belisol Team
General classification
1) Tom Boonen (Bel) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep
2) Tyler Farrar (USA) – Garmin-Barracuda 0:00:28
3) Juan Antonio Flecha – (Spa) Sky Procycling 00:00:33
