page_title: 2015 Tour of Qatar
section_title: Stage 6
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Tour of Qatar / Stages / Stage 6
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Reportage photographique réalisé le mercredi 7 mai 2014 au départ de la première étape de l'édition 2014 des Quatre jours de Dunkerque à Dunkerque, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Depicted person&#58; &#32;Sam Bennett Depicted team: NetApp-Endura
context_page_description: The 2015 Tour of Qatar was the 14th edition of the Tour of Qatar cycling stage race. It was organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation, the organisers of the Tour de France. The race was rated as a 2.HC event, the second highest rating an event can receive, and was part of the 2015 UCI Asia Tour.
  The 2015 race consisted of six stages. It started in Dukhan on 8 February 2015 and finished on 13 February in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. The Tour of Qatar puts unusual demands on riders: it has no significant climbs, but almost every stage is affected by strong crosswinds. These conditions make the race ideal preparation for the spring classics season, so many prominent classics riders were present. The flat stages, suitable for sprinters, and individual time trial meant that specialists in these disciplines also chose to ride in Qatar.
  The race was won by Dutch rider Niki Terpstra of Etixx–Quick-Step. It was the second successive year that Terpstra won the race after his victory in 2014 and the fourth successive victory for Etixx–Quick-Step. It was the eighth victory for the team in Qatar.
context_section_description: The final stage of the 2015 Tour of Qatar started where stage 1 had finished, at the Sealine Beach Resort south of Mesaieed. It took the riders north to Doha. In Doha, the riders rode to the Doha Corniche, where they completed ten laps of a 5.7 km (3.5 mi) finishing circuit.
  After the previous stage, Niki Terpstra (Etixx–Quick-Step) had indicated that his team would happily allow a breakaway to win the stage in order to deny Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) the possibility of taking overall victory with the aid of the bonus seconds for the stage win and intermediate sprints. A break was allowed to go away early, formed of Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team), Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), Nicola Boem and Stefano Pirazzi (both Bardiani–CSF). They were able to build a lead of over two minute, but Team Katusha took up the chase to support Kristoff in seeking bonus seconds.
   The two intermediate sprints were both located on the finish line of the finishing circuit, on the fourth and seventh lap. Burghardt, Van Hecke, and Boem were caught first, while Pirazzi was caught on lap 4. Etixx–Quick-Step attempted to place riders in the sprint to prevent Kristoff winning the bonus seconds; they succeeded in winning the sprint with Tom Boonen, but Matteo Trentin was beaten by Kristoff to second place. Kristoff therefore won two bonus seconds, placing him nine seconds behind Terpstra. With a ten-second bonus available to the stage winner, Kristoff was now within reach of the overall win.
  Etixx–Quick-Step then sent their rider Iljo Keisse into a breakaway alongside Gijs van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise), with the intent of preventing Kristoff winning any more bonus seconds. Keisse won the intermediate sprint with van Hoecke second; they then allowed the peloton – led by Katusha – to catch them.
  In the final kilometres of the stage, Team Katusha, who had done most of the work throughout the day, were unable to maintain their position at the head of the peloton. After the stage, Kristoff admitted that his team was tired from their work during the week. Fabian Cancellara put in an attack in the final five kilometres, but was brought back by the peloton led in particular by IAM Cycling and Astana. In the final kilometre, Tinkoff–Saxo came to the front in support of Peter Sagan.
  Sam Bennett (Bora–Argon 18) was given a strong lead-out by his teammates. He was then able to follow Andrea Guardini (Astana), who launched his sprint with 200 m (660 ft) to go.  Bennett was then able to come past and take his first win of 2015, which he later described as the biggest of his career so far.
  Kristoff finished 19th; he therefore failed to gain the bonus seconds he needed for overall victory and finished nine seconds behind Terpstra. Terpstra therefore won the Tour of Qatar for the second successive season. Kristoff won the silver jersey of the points competition, thanks to his three-stage wins, while Sagan won the young riders competition. Etixx–Quick-Step won the teams competition.
caption: Sam Bennett (pictured here in 2014) won stage 6
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