Tom Boonen, who one two stages and was second on GC behind teammate Niki Terpstra at last year’s Tour of Qatar, says he sees Bradley Wiggins as a big threat in the race.

He says he and his Etixx-Quick Step team will do their best to put Wiggins in trouble wherever possible, but he wont change their tactics.

“There’s not that many tactics involved in Qatar. It’s just about echelons and trying to be in the break every time. If we can get at Bradley we’ll try because he will ride a good time trial and it’s going to be difficult,” he told Cyclingnews.

“He’s one of the main contenders but there are a few guys here. I speak about him because he’s got the 10K time trial and it will be hard if he’s always in the first group and you need to get 30 or 40 seconds back on him.”

Boonen says that Wiggins is a very strong rider, and because of this he says his team will dry and get rid of the Brit wherever an opportunity presents itself.

“Overall he’s a very strong rider. He can ride the echelons, on the cobbles, and in the mountains. It won’t be a problem but we’ll try and drop him everywhere we can.”