Riding in his home town of Liverpool, Stephen Cummings refused to be anonymous in the first part of the Tour of Britain. The TT specialist launched a strong attack in the finale, trying to deny the sprinters their time in the spotlight.

A bunch sprint finish capped Sunday's opening stage of the Friends Life Tour of Britain as BMC Racing Team's Stephen Cummings enjoyed a return to racing in his hometown area.  Cummings said it was nice to see such a strong turnout for the race that comprised eight laps of a 13.1-kilometer circuit through Liverpool City Centre, just minutes from where he grew up, in Clatterbridge.

"The last time I raced here was in 2008," Cummings said. "It is just amazing the popularity of the sport now and how the public all comes out to watch. It is really nice to see how the sport has grown. Fifteen years ago you would not have seen so many people."

Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Shimano) took the win ahead of Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF) and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) while BMC Racing Team's Sebastian Lander and Rick Zabel finished 13th and 14th, respectively.

"We knew there would be a breakaway and it would be a race for the sprinters' teams," BMC Racing Team Sport Director Max Sciandri said.

As the gap to three remaining riders in the breakaway closed to less than 30 seconds with seven kilometers to go in the 104.8-km race, Cummings attacked the peloton.

"I thought maybe I could get to the breakaway really fast and hook up with them for a little bit and then go from there," the two-time Tour of Britain runner-up said. "But it was just difficult with all the teams of the sprinters. It was a long shot, but you have to try when it is on your home roads."