Rojas wins Qatar opener

Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) won a windswept opening stage of the Tour of Qatar.

The 29-year-old timed his final sprint to perfection to take the win ahead of Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) and Arnaud Démare (FDJ).

The 130-kilometre stage saw the peloton battered by crosswinds from the off, and the peloton was fractured into several small groups as the riders battled against the elements.

Luca Sterbini (Bardiani-CSF) and Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) built up a lead of seven minutes, but in the conditions a two-man break was never going to last the distance and they were reeled in with nearly half of the stage still to race.

With 40 kilometres remaining, Astana pair Lieuwe Westra and Lars Boom broke free along with Tinkoff-Saxo's Matti Breschel. The trio found a good rhythm and put up a serious fight, holding a lead of around a minute with 20 kilometres to race.

However, Etixx-QuickStep moved to the front of the peloton and set to work reeling the three leaders in, before Bora-Argon 18 and Trek Factory Racing forced another late split in the main field. Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) was among those caught out and he saw his hopes of winning the stage vanish.

The sprint was a chaotic affair, with Rojas latching onto Etixx-QuickStep's leadout for Boonen before starting his effort extremely early. He held out to take the win ahead of Boonen, but Démare was caught out by the early start and could only come in third.

"It was a demanding finale, especially before last 10 kilometres when Bora and Trek split the group," Rojas said.

"With 500 metres to go I took Niki Terpstra’s wheel when he came up on the side and when I saw he was out of gas, I jumped with 300 metres to go.

"The wind was blowing to the left, so anyone moved up there would have to take the brunt of it."

The Tour of Qatar continues on Monday with Stage 2, a 194.5 kilometre stage from Al Wakra to Al Khor Corniche.