Luke Evans blogs from the Tour of Qatar, where is he motorbike pilot for photographer Graham Watson

The Tour of Qatar starts tomorrow and it looks like the high winds which battered the womens race may be on the wane.

Fine sand covered everything and dulled the normally clear blue skies.

Today we took a walk to a new marina development under construction near the race hotel and HQ and it was blowy but dust free. Everywhere there were non-Qatari workers wiping sand off railings and benches.

And what do you build when you've got tons of money? An ersatz version of Venice of course.

The photo shows the Qatari version of the famous Rialto bridge, in a complex of pastel painted villas.

In the marina, Venetian pontoons await the superyachts that the new apartment owners will presumably bring with them.

Strange place, it will be a relief to go into the desert tomorrow and follow a bike race again.