Exactly one week after Ellen Van Dijk won the women's Tour of Qatar, Mark Renshaw made it two out of two for Team HTC-HighRoad when he scooped the overall victory in the same race for the men.

Renshaw made a successful defense of his lead in the 126.5 kilometer final stage from Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche on Friday, to finish ahead of Australia's Heinrich Haussler of Castelli-sponsored Team Garmin-Cervelo and Italian Daniele Bennati. Qatar is the first stage race win of Renshaw's career.
 
"The last day was really a question of staying in the pack and making sure I stayed close to Haussler and at the head of the field," Renshaw said afterwards, "It's great to come here and get the win in Qatar, it's such a hard race and to follow on the win by the women's team makes it  even something special."
 
"It'll lift the team's morale and hopefully we'll be just as successful in the rest of the year as we were last season."
 
"I've been lucky enough to ride for Australia on the track and in the Olympic Games, but on the road this is the best result I've ever had," Renshaw added and continued "The last two laps of this stage were a bit of a blur, I was going through riders right and left and just trying to follow Haussler."
 
"With 500 meters to go I managed to get out of the pack, but with 200 meters to go I knew all I had to do was stay there and win the race."