By Rizwan Rehmat

MADINAT AL SHAMAL Qatar: British cycling star Mark Cavendish yesterday reclaimed the golden jersey at the Tour of Qatar where title favourite Alexander Kristoff relied on a team push to take stage four in Madinat Al Shamal.

Cavendish riding for Dimension Data finished the penultimate stage in fifth spot to grab the leader’s jersey after team-mate and overnight leader Edvald Boasson Hagen suffered a puncture and lost ground on the leading group.

The 30-year-old Briton who won the opening stage was pushed to second place by Kristoff on day two.

Kristoff riding for Katusha was given a perfect lead-up towards the finish line by his team-mates as the Norwegian won his second stage this week and 5th in Qatar.

The Katusha rider made the most of the time lost by Boasson Hagen who fell behind the final bunch after suffering a puncture that required a switch to another bicycle.

Boasson Hagen suffered the puncture in the final 10 kilometres of the stage. Kristoff clocked a time 3 hours 57 minutes and 12 seconds to complete his stage win.

Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet (‎BMC) Italy’s Jacopo Guarnieri (Katusha) and Ireland’s Sam Bennett finished ahead of fifth-placed Cavendish.

In the general classification Cavendish leads with a time of 10 hours 51 minutes and 13 seconds.

Second-placed Van Avermaet is just 2 seconds behind Cavendish. Italy’s Manuel Quinziato (BMC) is 6 seconds slower while fourth-placed Kristoff is 9 seconds behind Cavendish.

“The team did a really good job in the final kilometre putting me with really good speed into the sprint” Kristoff said after the presentation ceremony.

“For me it was just to finish it off and keep the other guys behind me. I knew Cavendish was there but I think he was stuck a bit behind so it went perfectly for our team.

“It (the general classification) will be decided tomorrow. Cavendish is leading the race and he is not a slow man so if it comes down to bonus seconds I think if he’s not unlucky he will protect his lead but it is quite open” Kristoff said.

A day after what looked to be a decisive time-trial conquered by Boasson Hagen the riders gathered around the World Unesco heritage site of the Al Zubarah Fort for stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar. On the menu was a 189-km stage heading to Madinat Al Shamal where the 132 riders would battle it out on a final wind-swept circuit.

After an extremely fast start thanks to the tailwind several riders tried their luck but their breakaway efforts were vain. Eventually after 17 kilometres 9 men managed to power away from the pack: Artyom Zakharov Preben Van Hecke Mark McNally Patrick Gretsch Sébastien Turgot Gerrit De Vries Daniel Eaton and Thomas Koep.

Their lead reached a maximum 2’15’’ advantage at the first intermediate sprint (73km mark) won by Gretsch ahead of Van Hecke and Zakharov.

After a sharp right turn the pace of the pack went dramatically faster led by team BMC Racing. While the gap with the front men started dropping the pack broke up into several groups.

In the leading group of 31 behind the escapees were Boasson Hagen Cavendish and white pearl jersey Andersen as well as all the main favourites.

The gap continued dropping and eventually the front 9 were caught at the 88-km mark.

Meanwhile as the front group entered the circuit around Madinat Al Shamal the main pack including the likes of Sam Bennett and Sven Erik Bystrom remained 52’ seconds adrift.

Facing the wind all the groups eventually bunched up together again at 110km mark. Five kilometres later four men gave it a go: Van Hecke McNally Gretsch and Asselman.

Their lead rapidly grew and reached a maximum 2’15’’ at the first crossing of the line (135km mark). The second bonus sprint (2nd crossing of the line 148.5km mark) was won by Gretsch ahead of Asselman and McNally.

Led by team Dimension Data the pack carried on gaining time on the breakaway riders who were finally caught with just under one lap to go (176km mark). The riders from teams BMC and LottoNL - Jumbo then decided to take control of the bunch and while 33 riders were left at the front overall leader Boasson Hagen suffered a puncture with just under 10 kilometres to go.

Despite being helped out by a team mate the Norwegian was left behind. BMC continued powering ahead and the gap over the stage winner reached 40 seconds with 5kms left.

While Boasson Hagen was seeing his golden jersey hopes fade away time had come for a bunched sprint. Perfectly led out by his Katusha team-mates Kristoff flew to his second stage win this year only just beating Van Avermaet to the line while Guarnieri finished third. Already a winner in Madinat Al Shamal last year Kristoff claims his fifth success in Qatar.

The white pearl jersey for the best young rider remained on the shoulders of Soren Kragh Andersen.

Cavendish yesterday said he was disappointed.

“I am not too worried about the gold jersey right now. I am hugely disappointed that I was such in a good position. It was a long a road. We didn’t need to control it” Cavendish said yesterday.

“I am massively disappointed” he said. “It was horrible to lose 1st and 2nd on GC in such a disappointing way. Edvald punctured in the last 10km and unfortunately Lotto Jumbo went full gas BMC as well but obviously they had a reason to but Lotto Jumbo don’t have anyone on GC so it was a bit sad.

“All the guys waited for Edvald to try and bring him back. It was a full cross-tail finish so it means you need a full team with you otherwise you just going to be hammered in the gutter” Cavendish said.

“So we put all our eggs in Edvald’s basket and I knew I just needed to bury myself deep and we’d still hang onto the jersey anyway. The team rode incredibly strongly today” the Briton said.

“Matt and Mekseb controlled the race alone with no help from any other teams and that was awesome to see for 190km. Honestly we got to pay back the good work the guys have done all week and hold on to the jersey tomorrow” Cavendish said.

The Peninsula