Mark Cavendish seals Tour of Qatar victory

Mark Cavendish has claimed victory in the Tour of Qatar after winning four successive stages.

The cyclist from the Isle of Man recovered from a crash on the final stage of the race to sprint home to take the chequered flag.

He took the 116km final stage from Sealine Beach to Doha ahead of Belarus' Yauheni Hutarovich and Barry Markus of the Netherlands.

The Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider finished ahead of BMC Racing's American duo Brent Bookwalter and Taylor Phinney in the final standings.

Cavendish said: "I'm really happy to get the win. The guys worked incredibly here, they really looked after me so, so well here and delivered every single day."

Cavendish parted company with Team Sky to join the Belgium-based outfit in October 2012.

The 27-year-old, winner of 23 Tour de France stages, won his first competitive race for Omega Pharma-QuickStep on the opening stage of the Tour of San Luis in Argentina in January.

Cavendish's former colleague at Team Sky, Bradley Wiggins, who won last year's Tour de France, will race in Oman next week.

Wiggins is one of three recent winners of the Tour de France to have been confirmed for the Tour of Oman from February 11-16.

The line-up is further proof that the race is rocketing in stature, with Team Sky entering an impressive eight-man squad which also includes Chris Froome who was the runner-up in last year's Tour de France.