Wiggins is the Olympic and World pursuit champion

Britain's triple Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins has the leader's jersey after his team won stage one of the Tour of Qatar, a 6km team time trial.

"As a team we've put in long hours in pre-season and it is good to see all of that effort paying off," said Wiggins

"We were hoping to do well, but it is a surprise that we have managed to win the opening team time trial. It was tough, but we are pleased."

The second stage, a 134km race, takes place on Monday.

Team Columbia finished five seconds behind, leaving Briton Mark Cavendish in 31st place in the overall standings.

Seventeen teams are taking part in the six-day race, which ends on 6 February.

Overall standings after stage one:

1. Bradley Wiggins (GB), Garmin, 6min 34sec
2. Hans Dekkers (Ned), Garmin, same time
3. Kilian Patour (Fra), Garmin, same time
4. Michael Friedman (US), Garmin, same time
5. Huub Duyn (Ned), Garmin, same time
6. Marco Velo (Ita), Quickstep, at 1sec
7. Steven De Jongh (Ned), Quickstep, at 1sec
8. Tom Boonen (Bel), Quickstep, at 1sec
9. Maarten Wynants (Bel), Quickstep, at 1sec
10. Sebastien Rosseler (Bel), Quickstep, at 1sec

Selected others:

31. Mark Cavendish (GB), Columbia, at 5secs
42. Roger Hammond (GB), Cervelo, at 6secs
43. Daniel Lloyd (GB), Cervelo, at 6secs
44. Jeremy Hunt (GB), Cervelo, at 6secs
128. Ben Swift (GB), Katusha, at 1min 14secs

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