Cycling: This afternoon the Tour of Qatar starts for the 15th time - when you look at the start list this year, you notice that the name Etixx - Quick-Step is missing. While only 12 of the 18 WorldTour teams start at the Tour of the Desert, Etixx – Quick-Step has been a regular in the past and has repeatedly emphasized the importance of Qatar on their racing calendar. Qatar Cycling Federation President Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Al-Thani announced yesterday that the team had not been invited due to 'discipline problems' and 'lack of respect'.
Eight times in the last ten editions of the Tour of Qatar a driver from Etixx – Quick-Step ended up on top of the podium. Niki Terpstra, for example, has triumphed in the last two years. It was therefore surprising that the name of the Belgian team was missing when the start list was announced in December. Team boss Patrick Lefevere justified the decision with scheduling reasons and they wanted to keep the travel strain immediately before the classic season as low as possible.
Yesterday, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ali Al-Thani, president of the local cycling federation, surprised everyone by stating that Etixx – Quick-Step had not received an invitation at all, but had been excluded for disciplinary reasons. "While Quick-Step is an important team that has won a lot at the Tour of Qatar in recent years, we have repeatedly observed disciplinary issues in the past," said Khalid Bin Ali Al-Thani.
The sheikh then went into further detail, citing, for example, allegedly disrespectful behavior during the medal ceremonies: “At the medal ceremony, we had asked them not to give any interviews immediately after the race because we only have a limited amount of time for our live broadcast. But then they take an unusually long time to change their shoes. They don't change their shoes on the Ladies Tour, but Quick-Step insisted, wanting a chair, to change their shoes, lie down for a bit, and then give another interview. We repeatedly told them not to do that, but they ignored us.”
Last year, the race organization even assigned a staff member solely to tell the team to hurry up. "They didn't treat this woman very kindly," the sheikh continued. Furthermore, there were also problems at the team hotel – although Bin Ali Al-Thani didn't want to go into detail, he said one got the impression "that the team was a little too relaxed." But the door isn't completely closed for the Belgian team of Marcel Kittel and Tony Martin. "We hope they will learn from this," the sheikh added.
Somehow it seems unlikely that such an experienced team as Etixx - Quick-Step, which competes in dozens of races a year, should have behaved so unprofessionally. One is willing to think that the organizers in Qatar seem offended by the team's cancellation - but why did team boss Lefevere conceal the fact that they had not received an invitation and presented the facts in such a way that they had deliberately decided not to start? As is so often the case, the truth probably lies somewhere in between.