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Sprint kings Mark Cavendish and Tom Boonen will line up at next week's Tour of Qatar

Published: Jan. 27, 2009
Boonen winning the finale at last year's Qatar tour
Boonen winning the finale at last year's Qatar tour
Photo: Agence France Presse

It looks like Tom Boonen (Quick Step) will face stiffer competition in this year’s Tour of Qatar.

2009 Tour of Qatar teams and top starters

Team Milram : Knaven (Hol), Förster (All)
Drapac – Porsche Cycling : McDonald (Aus)
Quick Step : Boonen (Bel), De Jongh (Hol)
Silence - Lotto : Hoste, Cretskens (Bel)
TopSport Vlaanderen-Mercator : Goddaert (Bel)
BMC Racing Team : M.Zberg (Sui), Cruz (Usa)
Garmin-Slipstream : Wiggins (Gbr), Backstedt (Sue)
Team Columbia-High Road : Cavendish (Gbr), Burghardt (All)
AG2R La Mondiale : Mondory (Fra), Krivtsov (Ukr)
Lampre-N.G.C. : Furlan, Righi (Ita)
Liquigas : Chicchi (Ita), Fischer (Bre)
Meitan Hompo-GDR : Shimizu (Jap), Park (Cor)
Rabobank : Flecha (Esp), Posthuma (Hol)
Skil-Shimano : Deroo (Fra), Rooijakkers (Hol)
Doha Team : Chtioui (Tun)
Team Katusha : Pozzato, Napolitano (Ita)
Cervelo Test Team : Hammond (Gbr), Haussler (All)

 
Boonen has ruled the windy flats of the Arabian emirate with an iron fist, winning two out of the past three editions and bagging a record 14 stages, including three out of five stages and the opening team time trial for good measure in the 2008 edition.
 
For the eighth edition of the Qatar tour, Boonen will face off against new sprint rival Mark Cavendish (Columbia-High Road) in what will be one of the season’s top duels.
 
Cavendish leads a competitive, 17-team field into the season opener Feb. 1-6.
 
Others set to race include Filippo Pozzato and Danilo Napolitano of the new Katusha team and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank), Leif Hoste (Silence-Lotto) and Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo).
 
Tony Cruz will lead BMC while Brad Wiggins will make his Garmin-Slipstream debut with hopes of winning the opening team time trial.