Team Sky riders celebrate after winning the team time-trial in the Tour of Qatar

Britain's Bradley Wiggins made a stunning debut for Team Sky to help their eight-man squad win the opening team time trial at the Tour of Qatar.

Wiggins was one of seven debutants for the British team, who recorded a time of nine minutes 41 seconds on the 8.2km circuit, next to West Bay Lagoon.

Edvald Boasson Hagen was first over the line and will wear the leader's jersey in Monday's second stage.

Cervelo and Garmin shared second place with a time of 9min 49secs.

British riders Russell Downing, Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard were also part of the Team Sky squad.

Team Sky's senior sports director Scott Sunderland told his team's website afterwards: "It's a great start, and technically we did everything right.

606: DEBATE Brilliant! Well done Team Sky. At the end of the day it doesn't matter how much money is ploughed in - it's down to hard grind and team work Snapper88

"Every little detail was covered - from the warming up, examining the wind conditions, scouting the course and looking how we would handle different corners - basically all the different technical parts which make a difference.

"We also spent a lot of time discussing the order of the riders and it then all comes down to the physical aspect so it was great to see we had enough horsepower. Every single rider played their part and it was fantastic to see."

The Tour of Qatar runs from 7 to 12 February and is a six-stage race that covers a total distance of 704km.

Wiggins also wore the leader's jersey after last year's opening stage, when he was riding for Garmin.

Earlier on Sunday, news broke that the head coach of the Italian cycling team, Franco Ballerini, had died at the age of 45 after an accident in a rally car in Tuscany.

Ballerini, also a successful rider who won the Paris-Roubaix classic twice, had picked the Italian cycling team for the Olympics and annual world championships since 2001.

Under his leadership, Mario Cipollini won the world championship in 2002, followed by Paolo Bettini in 2006 and 2007 and Alessandro Ballan in 2008.

Bettini also took gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics road race with Ballerini as his coach.

Ballerini was a fan of rallying and was taking part in an amateur race as a co-driver when his car went off the road in Larciano near Florence.

Wiggins was quick to pay tribute, saying Team Sky's victory "had been overshadowed by the death of a great champion".

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