Today’s stage started at the Camel Race Track (don’t hear that one every day) and was characterized by a strong headwind that made it difficult for riders to control the stage. Despite all of that, Tom Boonen and his Quick Step team once again rolled to victory for the third day in a row.

Some of the less conditioned riders were looking a little ragged at the start of the stage, but Volodymyr Diudia (Milram) managed to go off the front at the 8 km mark. Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team) gave chase and was 15 seconds back, with the bunch ten seconds further back. Wyss couldn’t hold on and was sucked back into the peloton, but Omar Hasanin (Doha Team) went out in his place. After about 17 km., Diudia was 50 seconds ahead, with the peloton nearly a minute and a half back. After one hour of racing, Diudia led the peloton by over 16 minutes.

Diudia and Hasanin were first over the line at the sprint at Al Ghuwayriya (52.5 km). Not long after, Hasanin regrouped with the peloton and Diudia was out front on his own.

At about the 68km mark, the route took a turn that resulted in a strong tailwind. The pace in the peloton pushed up, but there was also some jostling that resulted in a crash. This caused the peloton to split into two groups, with overall race leader Boonen in the second group.

By the feed zone, Diudia saw his lead continue to evaporate. He took the second intermediate sprint at 91.5 km, but once the peloton reunited a little further down the road, the end was near. At kilometer 128, he was reeled in for good.

The Quick Step, Lampre and Silence-Lotto teams were strongly focused on keeping their lead and worked to keep things together until the finish. Quick Step was bunched together at the front the in the final kilometer, and though there some tried, it was Boonen, Napolitano, De Jongh, Van Avaermaet, Sutton and Roelandts crossing the line first.

Boonen holds on to the golden jersey and moves 13 second ahead of De Jongh and 23 seconds ahead of Van Avermaet.

Today:

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step                                     3.29.41
2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre                                           �
3 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step                                         �
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto                                  �
5 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream p/b Chipotle       0.02

Overall:

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step                                         6.04.30
2 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quick Step                                      0.13
3 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto                            0.23
4 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre                                            0.25
5 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Slipstream p/b Chipotle            0.26