Mark Cavendish wins the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar

Riding for the Dimension Data team, the 30-year-old won stage one to Al Khor Corniche in a sprint finish from Sacha Modolo (Lampre) and Andrea Guardini (Astana).

The peloton remained together for the first 38km until the change of direction on the dual-carriageway, which left a group of only 21 riders remaining.

Cavendish had Edvald Boasson Hagen and Tyler Farrar with him, though the latter was forced to work hard after puncturing with around 65km to ride. Despite this, the group eventually built a lead of around one minute 20 seconds.

That gap was reduced and hovered around one minute for a significant distance, though success was not guaranteed when the chasing group brought it down below 50 seconds with only 10 kilometres left.

But that’s as close as they got as Cavendish clinched the gold jersey.