Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, has struggled to show his best form recently

Mark Cavendish suffered his second nasty crash within a month as his front wheel collapsed during the opening prologue of the Tour of Qatar.

The HTC-Highroad sprinter cut and bruised his face, and broke his helmet, after bunny-hopping over a speed hump.

His team must decide whether Cavendish, who cut his face at the recent Tour Down Under, will race the first stage.

Rabobank's Dutchman Lars Boom denied Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara victory on Sunday.

Cancellara is still searching for his first win of 2011 after Boom, 25, clocked a time of three minutes 7 seconds for the 2.5km course to leave his Swiss rival, racing for his new Leopard-Trek team, back in second place, four seconds adrift.

Another Dutchman, Tom Veelers, was a further second back and took third place, while three-time race winner Tom Boonen of Belgium - competing for Quick Step - was seventh.

Despite the short distance, the entire course was cobble-stoned, with a lot of corners, and buffeted by strong winds.

"I'm in good form," said Boom, a former under-23 world time-trial champion.

"I've just come out of the cyclo-cross season and this technical circuit really suited me well.

"Beating Cancellara is really special - he's not the world time-trial champion for nothing. It's given me a bit of confidence."

Manxman Cavendish - a 15-time stage winner at the Tour de France - was forced to finish stage three of January's Tour Down Under among dense road traffic after he had suffered damaging cuts and bruises after a fall near the end of stage two of the Australian event.

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