Brammeier (in Irish champs kit!) takes the applause of the Doha crowd with his team mates (Photo: Omega Pharma-Quickstep/TDWsport.com)
Ireland’s Matt Brammeier and David McCann have rounded off a fast and furious Tour of Qatar with two strong rides on the final stage in Doha today.
Brammeier was again very visible in closing down escapes and helping to keep the bunch together to protect the GC lead of his team mate Tom Boonen.
The Irish national road and TT champion put in some mammoth turns on the front in the closing stages today to round off what was an extremely strong performance for him and his team all week.
Omega Pharma-Quickstep took two stage wins with Boonen as well as overall victory.
David McCann today reported a very fast stage and said he was disappointed not to get into today’s breakaway, even though it was caught to set up a bunch gallop marred by a Mark Cavendish crash.
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“It was seventy five miles in two hours and twenty minutes,” McCann told stickybottle.
“That's when bike riding is fun; painful fun. But I have to say I enjoyed it.”
“The whole race actually, nervous and dangerous as it was, has been like coming out of hibernation and feeling awake again. There was full-on echelons from the gun again today; a tail crosswind had me reaching for the 10 sprocket too many times.”
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“I’m a bit disappointed not to have made it into the breakaway group today, but happy to have finished in one piece and feeling in decent shape and comfortable on the new bike.”
He added it was great to be greeted by the news that paracyclists Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan had won the world pursuit tandem title in LA.
Next on the agenda for McCann and Brammeier is the Tour of Oman next week.
Stage 6 - 120km
1. Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ
2. Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha
3. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank
4. Roger Kluge (Ger) Project 1t4i
5. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha
6. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Barracuda
7. Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
8. Allan Davis (Aus) GreenEdge Cycling Team
9. Aaron Kemps (Aus) Champion System
10. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
34. David McCann (Irl) RTS Racing - same time
73. Matt Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep at 5:58
Final General Classification
1. Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
2. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Barracuda 28secs
3. Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Sky Procycling 33secs
4. Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep 34secs
5. Tom Veelers (Ned) Project 1t4i 1:00
6. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Sky Procycling 1:05
7. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) RadioShack-Nissan 1:06
8. Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Barracuda 1:09
73. David McCann (Irl) RTS Racing 5:10
94. Matt Brammeier (Irl) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 10:14
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