The Tour of Qatar was an annual professional cycling stage race held in Qatar. First organized in 2002, the event was part of the UCI Asia Tour until 2016. The 2017 edition was to have seen the event upgraded to the UCI World Tour for the first time,[1][2] but it was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship support.[3]

Tour of Qatar
Tour of Qatar logo
Race details
DateJanuary–February
RegionQatar
DisciplineRoad
TypeStage race
OrganiserAmaury Sport Organisation
Web sitewww.letour.fr/us/homepage_courseTQA.html Edit this at Wikidata
History
First edition2002 (2002)
Editions15 (as of 2016)
First winner Thorsten Wilhelms (GER)
Most wins Tom Boonen (BEL) (4 wins)
Most recent Mark Cavendish (GBR)

The event consisted of a men's competition over five stages, and, since 2009, a women's competition over four stages – held a week before the men's race. Because Qatar is entirely flat, the tour was almost always won by a sprinter or classics specialist. Belgian Tom Boonen and Dutchwoman Kirsten Wild hold the record with four overall wins, in the men's and ladies' competition respectively.

Men's past winners

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General classification

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Tom Boonen (pictured at the 2012 Tour of Qatar) holds a record 4 overall wins and 22 stage wins.
Year Country Rider Team
2002   Germany Thorsten Wilhelms Team Coast
2003   Italy Alberto Loddo Lampre
2004   South Africa Robert Hunter Rabobank
2005   Denmark Lars Michaelsen Team CSC
2006   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step–Innergetic
2007   Belgium Wilfried Cretskens Quick-Step–Innergetic
2008   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step
2009   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step
2010   Netherlands Wouter Mol Vacansoleil
2011   Australia Mark Renshaw HTC–Highroad
2012   Belgium Tom Boonen Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2013   Great Britain Mark Cavendish Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2014   Netherlands Niki Terpstra Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2015   Netherlands Niki Terpstra Etixx–Quick-Step
2016   Great Britain Mark Cavendish Team Dimension Data

Points classification

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Year Country Rider Team
2002   Germany Thorsten Wilhelms Team Coast
2003   Italy Alberto Loddo Lampre
2004   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step–Davitamon
2005   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step–Innergetic
2006   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step–Innergetic
2007   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step–Innergetic
2008   Belgium Tom Boonen Quick-Step
2009   Germany Heinrich Haussler Cervélo TestTeam
2010   Germany Heinrich Haussler Cervélo TestTeam
2011   Australia Heinrich Haussler[N 1] Garmin–Cervélo
2012   Belgium Tom Boonen Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2013   Great Britain Mark Cavendish Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2014   Belgium Tom Boonen Omega Pharma–Quick-Step
2015   Norway Alexander Kristoff Team Katusha
2016   Norway Alexander Kristoff Team Katusha

Stage wins

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Rider Country Stages
Tom Boonen   Belgium 22
Mark Cavendish   United Kingdom 9
Alexander Kristoff   Norway 6
Alberto Loddo   Italy 3
Francesco Chicchi   Italy 2
Arnaud Démare   France 2
Heinrich Haussler   Australia
  Germany
2
Robert Hunter   South Africa 2
Niki Terpstra   Netherlands 2
Thorsten Wilhelms   Germany 2

Ladies' past winners

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Ladies Tour of Qatar
 
Race details
DateFebruary
RegionQatar
DisciplineRoad
TypeStage race
OrganiserAmaury Sport Organisation
Web sitewww.letour.fr/us/homepage_courseTQA.html  
History
First edition2009 (2009)
Editions8 (as of 2016)
First winner  Kirsten Wild (NED)
Most wins  Kirsten Wild (NED) (4 wins)
Most recent  Trixi Worrack (GER)
 
Eddy Merckx presenting Ellen van Dijk with the gold leader's jersey after the first stage of the 2015 Ladies Tour of Qatar.

General classification

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Year Country Rider Team
2009   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Cervélo TestTeam
2010   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Cervélo TestTeam
2011   Netherlands Ellen van Dijk HTC–Highroad Women
2012   Germany Judith Arndt GreenEDGE–AIS
2013   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Argos–Shimano
2014   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Giant–Shimano
2015   Great Britain Lizzie Armitstead Boels–Dolmans
2016   Germany Trixi Worrack Canyon–SRAM

Points classification

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Year Country Rider Team
2009   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Cervélo TestTeam
2010   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Cervélo TestTeam
2011   Netherlands Ellen van Dijk HTC–Highroad Women
2012   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Netherlands (national team)
2013   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Argos–Shimano
2014   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Giant–Shimano
2015   Great Britain Lizzie Armitstead Boels–Dolmans
2016   Netherlands Kirsten Wild Team Hitec Products

2017 Cancellation

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The 2017 Tour of Qatar was scheduled to take place between 6 and 10 February 2017. However, in December 2016, the event was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship support.[5][6] It would have been the 16th edition of the race and third event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.[7] It was included in the UCI World Tour calendar for the first time.[1][2]

Notes

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  1. ^ Haussler announced he would give up his German citizenship and would ride for Australia in the future.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "UCI expands WorldTour to 37 events". Cycling News. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b "The UCI reveals expanded UCI WorldTour calendar for 2017". UCI. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  3. ^ "UCI statement on Tour of Qatar". www.uci.ch. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016.
  4. ^ "TestTeam — News — Heinrich Haussler will race for Australia in the future — Cervélo". Cervelo.com. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  5. ^ "UCI statement on Tour of Qatar". UCI. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Tour of Qatar and Ladies Tour of Qatar cancelled". Cycling News. 28 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Tour of Qatar: 2017 edition of race is cancelled over lack of sponsorship". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
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