Cycling - Tour of Qatar

[ogii55]

Next big competition of the cycling season is Tour of Qatar, which started today. We will have another sprinters battle staring former winner Tom Boonen, Cavendish, Heinrich Haussler, Bennati, Chicchi.... Looking after initial time trail seems Tom Boonen is once again very hungry for wins after very bad last season for him. The Belgian will have the strongest team help with top sprinters Francesco Chicchi and Gert Steegmans. I expect from him at least two wins. He is also very strong contender for overall win after very strong Time Trail in the prologue. Pinnaclesports/Bet365/Unibet/Whil and Paddy will have odds here. I will play mostly h2h, but also will put some odds for Stage wins or Top 3. All my bets will be by 1 pt. Starting from Stage 1 Top 3 Henric Haussler 3.25 Unibet The German was twice at Top 3 in last two years on the same stage. Always finds good position. Will have strong support from Garmin team. Former points winner here. Top 3 Greg Van Avermat 15.00 Unibet The young Belgian is improving every year. Showed good sprinting results in Vuelta and Tour de France in recent years. Finished fifth at World championships. Overall winner Tom Boonen 3.00 Paddy Boonen needs wins this season or he will be finished. His quick step contract is very costly and after injury and drugs problems last year, he must show during 2011 his qualities. Cavendish already is out of GC contention after his bad fall in Prologue (which may affect also his stage by stage form). The other strong contender for GC Francesco Chicchi will ride for Boonen team this year. Haussler already lost 8 seconds to Boonen. Will wait until tomorrow for Pinnacle h2h, they put bet365 lines, but with some better odds. My overall numbers from Tour Down under are tragic :), but let them show up Overall with 1 pt. bets -11.5 p. H2H -4,66 p.

[ogii55]

Re: Cycling - Tour of Qatar Andrea Guardini vs Theo Bos 2.26 Guardini is in great shape. Won couple of sprint stages at Tour of Malasia. He is just 21 years old and is considered as the new Italian sprinting star. Bos is capable sprinter, but today the Rabobank team must defend Lars Boom yellow jersey. Also the team have one other very good sprinter - Gream Brown.