Cavendish pipped in Qatar but retains overall lead

Cavendish won stage one on Monday but could only finish second at Qatar University 24 hours later as Team Katusha's Alexander Kristoff edged him in the sprint.

A massive crash just 400 metres before the line held up all but the leading six or so riders and although Cavendish's Dimension Data team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen led out the sprint, it was Kristoff who prevailed.

However, the six-second time bonus for finishing in second place ensured that the Brit kept hold of the gold jersey by five seconds from the Norwegian ahead of Wednesday's third stage – an 11km individual time-trial in Lusail.

Tuesday's stage essentially served as a test event for October's World Championships in Doha and Cavendish believes there was little more he could have done to win the day.

"That was a really close one. Unfortunately, the wind was coming from the front right so you wanted the barrier side [during the sprint]," he said.

"I had to let Kristoff in so I knew I had to go on his outside which kind of made it harder for me.

"At the end of the day I was happy with how it went. On that finish I can't be too disappointed losing to Kristoff – he is strong on that type of finish. I am happy to keep to jersey."

Sportsbeat 2016