Mark Cavendish wins stage 3, Tour of Qatar

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) finally secured a victory in Tour of Qatar by winning stage 3 in Mesaieed. Niki Terpstra who played a pivotal role in Tom Boonen's 2012 Paris Roubaix victory, did the same for Cavendish during stage 3 by leading him out till the final kilometer. Albeit not having his usual sprint train, at 800 meters to go, Cavendish managed to hold the wheel of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) then with 350 meters to go accelerate away to pass Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge) and Barry Markus (Vacansoleil-DCM) to win the stage. Cavendish currently is fourth in the overall classification and eight seconds behind race leader, Brent Bookwalter (BMC). BMC had a tumultuous stage 3 when Taylor Phinney was involved in a crash during the early part of the race, however Phinney finished the stage with the main peloton.