5. Cavendish clinches Qatar as Kristoff wins three stages

February 16 | In this week’s Telegraph Cycling Podcast the regular team of Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss Mark Cavendish’s overall victory at the Tour of Qatar and his sprint battles with Alexander Kristoff and what they might mean for the rest of the season.

Kristoff’s team, Katusha, has been in the news for other reasons, with the Russian squad appearing to escape lightly following Eduard Vorganov’s recent positive test. Under UCI rules this should have meant a team suspension, with Luca Paolini failing a test for cocaine at last year’s Tour de France. In the event, the governing body decided that Katusha can carry on racing: we ask why, and discuss whether the collective punishment should have been applied.

Meanwhile, Daniel debunks the idea that Francaise des Jeux’s team trial win at La Méditerranéenne was a shock. And we look ahead to a packed week of racing – in Oman, Algarve and Andalusia – and hear from the Irish sprinter Sam Bennett, who rides for the German team Bora-Argon18.

Bennett has started the season in good form, with two fourth places at the Tour of Qatar, but he tells us that in 2016 he doesn’t want to hear that he is a sprinter with great potential – he wants to win at World Tour level. And, after struggling at the Tour de France with illness last year, he particularly wants to go back to the Tour and compete with the likes of Cavendish, Kristoff and Marcel Kittel for a stage win.

The Telegraph Cycling Podcast is supported by Trainer Road and Eurosport.