Marcus Burghardt and the rest of the BMC Racing Team cruised through Tuesday's third stage of the Tour of Qatar while looking ahead to a move up the overall classification on the race's final three stages.

Close Call At The Finish

Burghardt took third on the stage's first intermediate sprint to gain a one-second bonus, then avoided a pile-up during the bunch sprint in the final 200 meters to preserve his team-best fifth place overall. While the crash took down a number of riders, none from the BMC Racing Team were involved. Tom Boonen (Quick Step) earned the stage win ahead of Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo Test Team) in the first field sprint...

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Alessandro Ballan and Marcus Burghardt represented the BMC Racing Team in the decisive group of Monday's second stage of the Tour of Qatar, with Burghardt's 10th place finish moving him into fifth overall.

Long Breakaway Stays Away

Two riders spoiled the day for the sprinters by successfully completing a breakaway that began at the start of the 91-mile (147 km) race and ended with Geert Steurs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator Pro Cycling Team) earning the win over Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team). With Ballan and Burghardt helping drive a 20-man chase, the pair's 23-minute lead was whittled down to less than two minutes...

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Tour of Qatar, Stage 1: Eighth For Starters

The BMC Racing Team conceded 21 seconds for eighth place in Sunday's West Bay Lagoon team time trial as the six-stage Tour of Qatar got underway.

Director Sportif John Lelangue said the team's finish in the five-mile (8.2 km) race against the clock in wind-swept conditions was respectable. The Sky Pro Cycling Team won in 9 minutes and 41 seconds while the BMC Racing Team clocked a 10:02. "When you look at our results, we are in the same time as the sixth-place team and only three seconds off fourth place, so I think...

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07-Feb-2010: The fifth and final stage (145km) of Etoile de Bessèges took place today from Gagniéres. Niko Eeckhout (BEL- An Post-Sean Kelly) won the stage, Valentin Iglinskiy (KAZ - Astana) took second and Hans Dekkers (NED - Landbouwkrediet - Colnago) placed third.

Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) took the overall GC after the leader Arnoud Molmy (Roubaix Lille Metropole) dropped out of today's stage due to sickness this morning. Dominique Rollin who finished in 18th position was the best-placed Cervélo TestTeam...

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07-Feb-2010: Following their second place finish Cervélo TestTeam were disqualified by the race jury today, after they were judged to have received assistance during the Team Time Trial (8.2 km) at the first stage of the men's Tour of Qatar in West Bay Lagoon. Team Sky won the Time Trial (8.2km) with Garmin-Transition awarded second place. Consequently Cervélo was handed a one-minute penalty. Cervélo TestTeam will continue in the race tomorrow.

"I spoke with Heinrich (Haussler) and Gabriel (Rasch) and they told me that the wind was coming from the right side and to avoid crashing into our team Heinrich was forced to touch Gabriel," said Jens Zemke, sports...

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