There was no victorious Team Sky debut for Mark Cavendish at the Tour of Qatar.

The Manx Missile has been struggling with a fever for the last day or so, but did line up at the start of today's first stage.

Belgian Tom Boonen won, with the likes of Thor Hushovd, Tyler Farrar and Cav's ex-HTC lead-out man Mark Renshaw all finishing in the top ten.

Cav safely finished the stage, but opted not to contest the bunch sprint.

Boonen has won the tour overall on three occasions, and has started this one in good form too.