News
Specialized-Sponsored Team Quickstep Dominates The Podium at Tour of Qatar
Posted 2008-02-08
Tour Qatar Jan. 27th - Feb. 1

January 31, 2007– Morgan Hill, CA Win after win, Team QUICK STEP leaves its mark on the Tour of Qatar, proving that they are indeed the only team to beat moving into the tour’s final stage on Friday. Matching last year’s early-season domination, Tom Boonen finishes on the podium every day—with four first-place finishes, a second, and a third—and maintains his stronghold on the leader’s jersey moving into stage six.

After QUICK STEP’s initial team time trial victory, Tom Boonen claimed back-to-back wins during stages two and three, first beating out Lampre’s Danilo Napolitano and Silence Lotto’s Greg Van Avermaet, followed by Napolitano and fellow teammate Steven De Jongh the next day.

“I'm really excited about this victory,” said an excited Tom Boonen about his stage two results. “It's my first personal win in 2008. The entire team did a great job. We rode very hard from the beginning, as demonstrated by our average speed of more than 50 km/h. In the final phase our train was going so fast that it even created a break of 13 riders, among which six riders were from our team.”

Team QUICK STEP has wasted no time showing off their race-ready Specialized Tarmac SL2 bikes and Specialized Miura optics during the first major race of the season. For Tom Boonen alone, this makes his 14th stage win at the Tour of Qatar.

Get an insider’s view on what drives World Champion Paolo Bettini, “Tornado” Tom Boonen and the rest of Team QUICK STEP to victory with outtakes and interviews from the team training camp on http://www.specialized.com/bc/microsite/quickstep08/.