Tour of Qatar Diary – Stage 4 - I Think I Found a New Hero
By Justin Williams, Trek-LIVESTRONG U23 Team

2/10/10 - This is getting out of hand. I don't know what to say. I would love to win a stage here and shut some people up, but crashing at 40 mph doesn't seem like much fun in February. I’d rather win the Green Jersey at the San Dimas Stage Race. At least for now.

It's crazy how much harder this is. Then you think how much more focused you have to be and how one guy’s mistake could end your whole season. Aaahhh, okay today's stage was pretty hot and I took my under shirt off while getting ready to ride to the stage since it was only a few kilometers away. We got to the start pretty early, so we sat around looking at the cars at the Ferrari and Maserati dealership.

When we finally got underway, everyone seemed really mellow and there wasn’t much fighting for position through neutral zone. The leader’s team controlled the race the whole day and  a group of three got up the road including my teammate Jesse Sergent. He rocked it all day until about 10 K to go when the perfectly timed field brought them back.

It was about that time that I followed Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) to the front and stuck on his wheel. I knew it was still too early, so I drifted to the middle and kept telling myself to relax. With about 2 K to go to the line, I made my move with two guys in front of me and we were heading to the front fast! Cervelo TestTeam must have sensed a train coming up on their left side, because they swung left right into us.

But things looked good and I was top 15. With a kilometer and a half to go, we got closer to the round about and a swarm went up the inside and my race was over.  I went from top 15 to top 30 and was too far back. Being the fighter that I am, I still wanted to ride hard all the way home, but a crash at 500 meters killed that. Some guy tried cutting in on USPRO National Criterium Champion, John Murphy (BMC Racing Team), and he wasn't having it. The guy didn't stand a chance and bounced right off of him. I timed his bike spinning in the road and rode to the finish disappointed.

Little Justin Williams had great legs at the end of a 146 K stage. I wonder how McEwen does it? The amount of respect he must have. I think I found a new hero...