Tour of Qatar Stage 3: Mark Cavendish sprints to the win in scrappy finale

Mark Cavendish of Omega-Pharma Quick Step has won Stage 3 of the Tour of Qatar, outsprinting Barry Markus of Vacansoleil-DCM and Aldis Krupois of Orica-GreenEdge to take the victory at the end of the 143 kilometre stage from Al Wakra to Mesaieed.

Orica-GreenEdge had led the peloton under the flamme rouge as they looked to set up Kruopis, but in a scrappy closing few hundred metres it was Cavendish who burst through to cross the line first and take his second victory since his switch from Team Sky, having won a stage of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina last month.

The ten-second bonus Cavendish got for winning means he moves up to fourth place on GC, with Brent Bookwalter of BMC Racing, winner of Stage 1 on Sunday, retaining the overall lead. After yesterday's team time trial, riders from BMC, which set the fastest time, occupied the top five places overall with a quintet of riders from second quickest team Sky rounding out the top ten.

Tour of Qatar Stage 3 result  
  
1  CAVENDISH Mark         OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP    3h 05' 14"
2  MARKUS Barry           VACANSOLEIL-DCM         All at same time
3  KRUOPIS Aidis          ORICA GREENEDGE
4  BOUHANNI Nacer         FDJ
5  HAUSSLER Heinrich      IAM CYCLING
6  BOASSON HAGEN Edvald   SKY PROCYCLING
7  KLUGE Roger            TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA
8  DEGENKOLB John         TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO
9  FORTIN Filippo         BARDIANI VALVOLE-CSF INOX
10 SOUPE GEOFFREY         FDJ
11 GUARDINI Andrea        ASTANA PRO TEAM
12 KRISTOFF Alexander     KATUSHA TEAM
13 HUTAROVICH Yauheni     AG2R LA MONDIALE
14 JARC Blaz              TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA
15 VAN HUMMEL Kenny       VACANSOLEIL-DCM
16 DOWNING Russell        TEAM NETAPP-ENDURA
17 BOZIC Borut            ASTANA PRO TEAM
18 SHIMIZU Miyataka       JAPAN
19 TERPSTRA Niki          OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP
20 PORSEV Alexander       KATUSHA TEAM
  
Overall standings after Stage 3  
  
1  BOOKWALTER Brent       BMC RACING TEAM             6h 49' 58"
2  PHINNEY Taylor         BMC RACING TEAM              + 00' 06"
3  BLYTHE Adam            BMC RACING TEAM              + 00' 07"
4  CAVENDISH Mark         OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP      + 00' 08"
5  VAN AVERMAET Greg      BMC RACING TEAM              + 00' 10"
6  SCHÄR Michael          BMC RACING TEAM              + 00' 10"
7  EISEL Bernhard         SKY PROCYCLING               + 00' 11"
8  HAYMAN Mathew          SKY PROCYCLING               + 00' 12"
9  BOASSON HAGEN Edvald   SKY PROCYCLING               + 00' 14"
10 THOMAS Geraint         SKY PROCYCLING               + 00' 15"