Italian Alberto Loddo (Lampre) won Friday's mass field sprint to take the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar, a 90km circuit in Doha. Under sunny skies, Loddo beat out Frenchman Damien Nazon (Brioches La Boulangere) and Italian Massimo Strazzer (Phonak) and claimed the race leader's gold jersey.

Loddo counted heavily on his Lampre teammates to bring back the main breakaway duo of the day, consisting of Christophe Kern (Brioches La Boulangere) and Michael Blaudzun (CSC), whose lead reached a maximum of 1:25.

In the overall standings, Loddo leads Strazzer by three seconds, and Nazon by four.

RESULTS

Stage 1
1. Alberto Loddo (I), Lampre, 90km in 2:01:44
2. Damien Nazon (F), Brioches La Boulangere
3. Massimo Strazzer (I), Phonak
4. Rene Haselbacher (A), Gerolsteiner
5. Denis Bertolini (I), Phonak, all s.t.

Overall
1. Loddo
2. Strazzer, at 0:03
3. Nazon, at 0:04
4. Blaudzun (Dk), CSC, at 0:07
5. Julian Dean (NZ), CSC, at 0:08