Spratt's surprise

GreenEDGE general manager Shayne Bannan arrived in Doha the morning of the 97km first stage with the team’s official kit.

The women’s outfit had been training in Qatar wearing a temporary design, which it sported throughout the Australian summer season, with Spratt borrowing one of Simon Gerrans’s spare national jerseys.

“The official kit’s come in time so we’re all pretty excited to bring it out for our first international race,” Spratt said before the opener.

“It’s a huge privilege to be in the (national) jersey. I’m just going to enjoy every minute of it, whether it brings more attention I’m not sure but, yeah, it’s going to be exciting.”

The GreenEDGE - AIS squad was aggressive in the exceptionally windy first stage from Camel Race Track to Al Khor Corniche. The team had three riders in the decisive seven-strong break with time-trial world champion Judith Arndt the best of them finishing the stage in fourth place and picking up bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints to currently sit third overall.

Spratt says her Australian - based pro team may be new to world cycling but has what it takes to make an impact at the fourth edition of the women’s tour, which has attracted two-time champion Kirsten Wild (Netherlands), who won the first stage, as well as reigning road world gold medallist Girogia Bronzini (Diadora – Pasta Zara).
 
“It is a new team but certainly not lacking in experience,” Spratt said.

“Loes (Gunnewijk) and Judith they’ve done this tour a number of times and I think the rest of the girls we’re all really excited.

“We’ve all raced in Europe and we know all the riders as well, also, coming off the Australian summer we often start a little bit ahead of the Europeans at this time of year so I think we can use that to our advantage.

“We’re just going to take it day-by-day to start with. It really is so dependent on the weather and the wind so you’ve really got to take that into account.”

Bannan will be at the race until Saturday to greet the GreenEDGE men’s team that starts the Tour of Qatar on February 5.

Twitter: @SophieSmith86

Sophie Smith is in Qatar as a guest of Amaury Sport Organisation