Feb 9th, 10. A breakaway of two riders denied the sprinters victory in the second stage of the Tour of Qatar today.  They shared the spoils, one won the stage, the other the golden leader's jersey.

Wouter Mol will wear the golden jersey for tomorrow's stage 3 ©Vacansoliel Pro Cycling team

In extremely windy conditions they extended their lead out to almost 23min until Garmin Transitions and Cervelo TestTeam got sick of waiting for Team Sky to defend their leader's jersey, and took control at the front of the chase.

The winds and pace took their toll and the 127 riders split into many groups with Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen in the golden jersey caught on the wrong side of the important split.

On the the right side were 20-30 riders including defending champion Tom Boonen (Quickstep), BMC's Allessandro Ballan and , Garmin Transition's Tyler Farrar, Cervelo TestTeam's Heinrich Haussler and Omega Pharma Lotto's Phillipe Gilbert.

Boasson Hagen's misfortune wasn't the worst of the day for Team Sky.  Before the stage had even started Kurt-Asle Arvesen crashed, breaking his collar-bone, and ending his Tour of Qatar.

"We were basically just getting ready to start racing when I let a guy go past me but it then got a bit narrow and I lost control of the bike and crashed to the ground," the Norwegian road champion said on TeamSky.com.

Garmin Transitions' Steven Cozza also broke his collarbone in a crash which occurred later in the race.

At the pointy end of the stage with 6kms to go Haussler and then Gilbert attacked, but it wasn't enough to reel in the duo where Belgian Steurs took line honours still almost 2min ahead of the chasers.

The win was an emotional one for Stuers, his teammate Frederik Nolf died in his sleep during this tour last year.

Kiwi Jesse Sergent finished with three of his Trek Livestrong teammates from a bunch of 30 odd riders, including Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), 11m39s behind the leaders.

Although Steurs took line victory, Mol took over the General Classification and will wear the golden jersey for tomorrow's stage after Boasson Hagen finished in a bunch well off the pace, 9m42s behind.

Mol now enjoys a 9s advantage over Steurs and 2m02s over Kluge, while Boonen remains in the hunt in 4th,  2m05s behind.  

Tomorrow's 136km stage 3 promises more wind affected racing with wide-open desert roads from Dukhan to Mesaieed.

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