World road race champion Mark Cavendish will begin his 2012 season at the Tour of Qatar, staged between February 5-10, his Sky team announced Tuesday. The Manx Missile, a winner of two stages at the event in 2009, will be joined in an eight-man squad by Davide Apollonio, Michael Barry, Juan Antonio Flecha, Jeremy Hunt, Ian Stannard and Christian Knees as well as Bernhard Eisel, who followed Cavendish to the British outfit in October.

  

Cavendish will also take part in the Tour of Oman, scheduled to take place from February 14-19. Meanwhile, triple Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins will get his campaign underway at the Tour of the Algarve, held in Portugal from February 15-19. Chris Froome, who finished second at last year's Tour of Spain equalling the highest-placed finish for a British rider in a major Tour, will kick off his year at the Tour of Majorca, slated to take place between February 5-9.