February 07, 2012 (Qatar) – Team Garmin-Barracuda clocked the fastest time of the day’s team time trial staged by the Lusail moto GP circuit. But with only a 7” lead over Omega Pharma Quick Step, Tyler Farrar just managed to close in on the time of leader Tom Boonen. The Belgian keeps the golden overall leader’s jersey. The battle promises to be fantastic between the American and Belgian sprinters.

In perfect conditions and despite some wind sweeping across the 11.3km course set by the Lusail Moto circuit, the battle between the strong teams of the Tour of Qatar would be tight. Hard to tell indeed which one of the best formations would clock the most impressive time.

At the half way mark (km 5.6), it was looking good for Garmin who set a time of 6’19 before eventually reaching the finish in 12’38. That performance was never to be beaten although Omega Parma – Quick-Step and their leader Tom Boonen were level at the intermediate time check. The American squad eventually beat their Belgian rivals by 7″ while SKY finished third, 9″ adrift.

Despite having the exact same time as race leader Tom Boonen, Tyler Farrar has to settle for second overall, due to the Belgian’s better position yesterday when he claimed his 19th stage success. The 31-year-old also keeps his points’ Silver jersey while Navardauskas (GRM) becomes the best young rider of the Tour.

Results

1. Garmin – Barracuda 12:38
2. Omega Pharma-Quick Step 00:07
3. Sky Procycling 00:09
4. Katusha Team
5. Liquigas-Cannondale 00:13
6. RadioShack-Nissan 00:14
7. GreenEdge Cycling Team 00:16
8. BMC Racing Team
9. Rabobank Cycling Team 00:17
10. Lotto-Belisol Team
11. FDJ-Bigmat 00:23
12. Project 1t4i 00:24
13. Farnese Vini-Selle Italia 00:31
14. Champion System 01:03
15. Bridgestone Anchor 01:11
16. RTS Racing Team 01:34

GC after Stage 2
1. Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 3:24:07
2. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Barracuda
3. Johan Vansummeren (Bel) Garmin-Barracuda 00:03
4. Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Barracuda
5. Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin-Barracuda
6. Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Barracuda
7. Davide Appollonio (Ita) Sky Procycling 00:10
8. Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
9. Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
10. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
11. Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha
12. Frantisek Rabon (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
13. Matt Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
14. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale 00:12
15. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha
16. Vladimir Isaychev (Rus) Katusha
17. Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Sky Procycling
18. Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Katusha
19. Michael Barry (Can) Sky Procycling
20. Mark Cavendish (Gbr) Sky Procycling
21. Juan Antonio Flecha (Esp) Sky Procycling
22. Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Katusha
23. Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus) Katusha
24. Christian Knees (Ger) Sky Procycling
25. Adam Blythe (Gbr) BMC Racing Team 00:13
26. Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Katusha 00:15
27. Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 00:16
28. Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
29. Alan Marangoni (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
30. Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas-Cannondale
31. Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
32. Robert Wagner (Ger) RadioShack-Nissan 00:17
33. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
34. Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack-Nissan
35. Fabian Cancellara (Sui) RadioShack-Nissan
36. Markel Irizar (Esp) RadioShack-Nissan
37. Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol Team
38. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank 00:19
39. Baden Cooke (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team
40. Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team
41. Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) GreenEdge Cycling Team
42. Svein Tuft (Can) GreenEdge Cycling Team
43. Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team
44. Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) GreenEdge Cycling Team
45. Jens Mouris (Ned) GreenEdge Cycling Team
46. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
47. Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC Racing Team
48. Klaas Lodewijck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
49. Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) GreenEdge Cycling Team
50. Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Belisol Team 00:20
51. Lars Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol Team
52. Dennis Van Winden (Ned) Rabobank
53. Maarten Wynants (Bel) Rabobank
54. Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
55. Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
56. Gregory Henderson (Nzl) Lotto Belisol Team
57. Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank
58. Thomas Leezer (Ned) Rabobank
59. Ian Stannard (Gbr) Sky Procycling 00:23
60. Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ-BigMat 00:26
61. Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) FDJ-BigMat
 62. Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ-BigMat
63. David Boucher (Fra) FDJ-BigMat
64. Mickaël Delage (Fra) FDJ-BigMat
65. Gabriel Rasch (Nor) FDJ-BigMat
66. Yoann Offredo (Fra) FDJ-BigMat
67. Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ-BigMat
68. John Degenkolb (Ger) Project 1t4i 00:27
69. Tom Veelers (Ned) Project 1t4i
70. Roger Kluge (Ger) Project 1t4i
71. Koen De Kort (Ned) Project 1t4i
72. Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Project 1t4i
73. Albert Timmer (Ned) Project 1t4i
74. Roy Curvers (Ned) Project 1t4i 00:29
75. Luca Ascani (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia 00:34
76. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
77. Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
78. Diego Caccia (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
79. Robbie McEwen (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team 00:37
80. Mauro Da Dalto (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 00:44
81. Jack Bauer (Nzl) Garmin-Barracuda 00:47
82. Thomas Bertolini (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia 00:55
83. Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia 00:57
84. Matthias Friedemann (Ger) Champion System 01:06
85. Gorik Gardeyn (Bel) Champion System
86. Aaron Kemps (Aus) Champion System
87. Mart Ojavee (Est) Champion System
88. Joss Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank
89. Michael Schär (Sui) BMC Racing Team 01:11
90. Danilo Wyss (Sui) BMC Racing Team
91. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
92. Murilo Antoniobil Fischer (Bra) Garmin-Barracuda 01:13
93. Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor 01:14
94. Thomas Lebas (Fra) Bridgestone Anchor
95. Alexandre Lemair (Fra) Bridgestone Anchor
96. Blaise Sonnery (Fra) Bridgestone Anchor
97. Kazuo Inoue (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor
98. Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia 01:21
99. Allan Davis (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team 01:23
100. David McCann (Irl) RTS Racing Team 01:37
101. Jai Crawford (Aus) RTS Racing Team
102. Alex Coutts (Gbr) RTS Racing Team
103. Lee Rodgers (Gbr) RTS Racing Team
104. Clinton Avery (Nzl) Champion System 01:39
105. Hayato Yoshida (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor 01:45
106. Jacob Rathe (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 01:48
107. Jérémy Hunt (Gbr) Sky Procycling 01:50
108. Klaas Sys (Bel) Bridgestone Anchor 01:51
109. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) RadioShack-Nissan 01:56
110. Joost Posthuma (Ned) RadioShack-Nissan
111. Dominic Klemme (Ger) Project 1t4i 02:02
112. Gregory Rast (Sui) RadioShack-Nissan 02:03
113. Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 02:12
114. Mehdi Sohrabi (IRI) Lotto Belisol Team 02:16
115. Nikolas Maes (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 02:18
116. Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 02:23
117. Christian Benenati (Ita) Farnese Vini-Selle Italia 02:42
118. Pengda Jiao (Chn) Champion System 02:48
119. Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha 03:09
120. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 03:56
121. Ryota Nishizono (Jpn) Bridgestone Anchor 04:08
122. Chin-Lung Huang (Tpe) RTS Racing Team 04:55
123. Gang Xu (Chn) Champion System 05:31
124. Wei Kei Chang (Tpe) RTS Racing Team 14:15
125. Sergey Kudentsov (Rus) RTS Racing Team 14:30