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The Qatar Cycling Federation, QCF eyes to host a stage of the Tour de France in Qatar in the near future.

Qatar could have yet another feather added to its cap what with the organisers of the cycling’s most famous event, Tour de France, considering allotting a stage of the event to Doha.

Director of the Tour de France Christian Prudhomme, while talking to Qatar Tribune on the eve of the eighth edition of the Tour de Qatar on Saturday said, “Yes, Qatar has approached us and we have long-standing close ties with it. And Qatar getting a chance to host a stage of the tour is a strong possibility, but before taking any decision we have to settle certain technical issues. I am here and will discuss the things with Qatar Cycling Federation.

“Qatar has good facilities for cycling but we have to take into account the weather condition according to our calendar,” he added.

Tour de France had in December received an official letter in this connection from Qatar’s cycling authorities and Prudhomme is here for talks regarding a Doha stage of the Tour. The President of the Qatar Cycling Federation Sheikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdulla al Thani also said, “We are having a good working relationship with Tour de France organisers and hope to get the stage in the near future.” “We went to Tokyo recently because they are interested in hosting a stage and we made a presentation of the 2009 Tour de France. Quebec is also interested and so are Estonia, Budapest, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. So there are many options. More than 250 cities are interested in hosting a stage of the event in France and Europe. Around 30 want the opening stage,” Prudhomme said.

He added: “We have a longstanding relationship with the organisers, we have been working with them for seven years and we are confident that we will get the Tour de France in Qatar. Holding the first stage of the Tour outside France has been a very popular concept, so we thought it would be excellent to host a stage outside Europe for the first time ever. “This will be very good for our region and for Asia as well, to have the world’s biggest cycling event in Qatar.”

When asked about the possibilities of night event in Doha, Prudhomme said, “Only time trial cane be held at night at the Corniche, but the main stage races are not possible on the outskirts of the city. In 1985, a night race was organised in France but that was far from successful.”

(Source: Qatarolympics.org)