Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) had hoped for a bunch sprint to decide yesterday’s opening stage at Driedaagse van de Panne but it wasn’t to be as a 10 man group broke clear and managed to narrowly hold off the chasing pack, including Cavendish.

"It wasn't necessarily a difficult day, it was more difficult to control," Cavendish said on the OPQS website. "The wind wasn't really in a direction that could make a difference, but it was a difficult direction to just ride. It was almost a headwind, so you can't break the race apart, but still difficult to ride. But you know, we had two guys up there in the front in the end. We were reactive all day, we did what we could, but Sagan is pretty unbeatable right now. He's a once in a generation rider, for sure. As for tomorrow [Wednesday], it should be a sprint. Should break and come back together again, but we will see what happens."

You can follow the action from De Panne live here on Cyclingquotes.com starting at 14.45