Tour of Qatar: Bradley Wiggins third on stage three time trial as Niki Terpstra takes race lead with win
Tuesday 10 February 2015 16:12, UK
Sir Bradley Wiggins had to settle for third place on stage three’s individual time trial at the Tour of Qatar as Niki Terpstra claimed the overall race lead with an impressive win.
Wiggins, who was riding for the first time in his world champion’s rainbow jersey, stopped the clocked on a 10km course in Losail in a time of 14min 12sec, which was nine seconds slower than Terpstra and one second adrift of runner-up Fabian Cancellara.
The result sees Terpstra, who won the Tour of Qatar last year, move to the top of the general classification and open up an 11-second lead over Maciej Bodnar, who finished on the same time as Wiggins in fourth place.
Team Sky’s Ian Stannard is now third overall, 12 seconds back, after finishing just one second behind Wiggins on the day in fifth place, while team-mate Luke Rowe is up to fifth, 33 seconds adrift, after crossing the line 31 seconds down in 15th.
'Surprise' win
Wiggins climbs up the overall standings, but following his disastrous day on stage two, he is 10min 2sec behind Terpstra in 78th.
Terpstra said: “The victory is a bit of a surprise. I was just going for a good time trial to move up in the classification. But it went so well I ended up with the stage win as well.
“If you see the guys that are riding here, it is a really strong peloton with some time-trial specialists, such as Cancellara and Bradley Wiggins. So, it's awesome to get a victory with such big competition. Now the goal is to keep the gold jersey.”
The riders had to tackle the winding course on road bikes, as time trial bikes are not permitted under Tour of Qatar rules.
Stage three result
1 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx – Quick-Step, 14:03
2 Fabian Cancellara (Sui) Trek Factory Racing, +8secs
3 Sir Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky, +9
4 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo, same time
5 Ian Stannard (GB) Team Sky, +10
6 Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling, +18
7 Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step, +20
8 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN-Qhubeka, +21
9 Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, +24
10 Reto Hollenstein (Sui) IAM Cycling, +25
General classification
1 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Etixx – Quick-Step, 7:53:42
2 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo, +11secs
3 Ian Stannard (GB) Team Sky, +12
4 Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, +19
5 Luke Rowe (GB) Team Sky, +33
6 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, +36
7 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step, +42
8 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling, +44
9 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana, +46
10 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, +48
Selected other
78 Sir Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Sky, +10:02
