Three-time Tour of Qatar winner Tom Boonen sprinted into the leader’s jersey with victory on the opening stage of this year’s race.

Quick Step rider Boonen, who topped the overall classification in 2006, 2008 and 2009, was part of a strong break on the 145.5km stage, which saw Team Sky, Garmin-Cervelo and Leopard Trek well represented.

And the Belgian launched a long-range sprint before holding off Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo) and Mark Renshaw (HTC-Highroad) respectively to clock 2:59.29 hours. 

Prologue winner Lars Boom (Rabobank), who was suffering from stomach problems, did not feature in the break, leaving Boonen to take the yellow, four seconds ahead of Renshaw, with Fabian Cancellara a further four seconds back.