Marcel Aregger «I learned a lot in Qatar»

Having been beaten every time so far this week by Tom Boonen, today André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) set the record straight.  The German National Road Champion came out on top in the sprint win for stage 5 at the Tour of Qatar.  Matteo Pelucchi was able to surge forward to take a strong 5^th place in spite of the fact that some of his IAM Cycling teammates had problems when trying to position him in the final moments of the race.

Marcel Aregger (23 years old) was able to recount those problems when he was interviewed shortly after the race finished.

“Matteo has achieved a great result considering that we were not able to prepare his sprint as well as we would have liked.  We were not up there at the finish for him at all.  Contrary to our plans, he could not rely on Heinrich Haussler and Sébastien Hinault.  

Luckily today the stage was easier than yesterday.  Omega Pharma-Quickstep controlled the race at a much more merciful pace, unlike yesterday where we averaged 56.3 km/h over 135 kilometers, which was a personal best for me, in any case.  Luckily we didn’t repeat that today, but I felt the effects with my very heavy legs.”

Now beginning his second season as a pro, Marcel Aregger recognizes that nothing is a piece of cake.

“I learned a lot here in Qatar, especially with regards to racing in the wind.  It simply does not stop blowing here.  In the first stage, I nearly found myself outside the time delay because I was held up by a crash.  Experiences like this will serve me well the rest of my career, and of course, I’ll be better prepared for racing in Europe.”  The youngster from the German part of Switzerland will be returning to Europe only after he takes part in next week’s Tour of Oman.  “I am delighted to be taking part.  I worked hard this winter, and I will not expect to suffer too much after this first race.  All I need are the three days of recovery, and then I will be ready to work again as a water carrier for my teammates in the more hilly stages.”