Britain's Mark Cavendish won the first stage of the Tour of Qatar on Monday ahead of Italian pair Sacha Modolo and Andrea Guardini.

The former world road race champion covered the 175 kilometres from Dukhan to the Al Khor corniche in 3hrs 28.31secs, eight seconds in front of Modolo and 11 seconds ahead of Guardini.

Tuesday's 135 kilometre second stage around the campus of the University of Qatar will see the peloton tackle the course prepared for the world road race champioships in October.

The tour comprises five stages and will cover a total distance of 626.4 kilometres.

Cavendish is riding for the South African Dimension Data team.