NetApp-Endura dominated the finale of the first stage of the Tour of Britain, trying to set Sam Bennett up for a sprint win. In the end, the Irishman got boxed in and never got the chance to sprint.

Marcel Kittel (Team Giant-Shimano) won the first stage of the Tour of Britain in Liverpool. The German prevailed over Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani – CSF) and Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quickstep) in the sprint royal. Sam Bennett sprinted into 12th place after 105 kilometers as best rider for the NetApp-Endura team.

“We concentrated today on letting only a small group go ahead at the start, without any rider from the larger teams being part of it. We therefore didn’t have to put any energy into a chase. We then concentrated solely on the sprint for Sam. The team did that extremely well, and demonstrated a superb preparation for the finish during the closing kilometers. In the fast sprint, unfortunately, just a tiny bit of luck was missing. Sam was on the left side, while the sprint took off on the right side. He thus couldn’t really join in the sprint. That is really too bad, since Sam felt very well and a podium placing was a possibility. But we still have a few decisive sprints ahead of us, and we are optimistic about those,” says Team NetApp-Endura Sport Director Enrico Poitschke after the first stage of the Tour of Britain.

The 11th Tour of Britain began today with a relatively flat 104.8-kilometer first stage in Liverpool, which took the riders on eight circuits through the English harbor town. As expected, the short section was dominated by a lead group. Although the move by the four breakaways brought them both the sprint- and the mountain jersey, it did not contribute to deciding the stage. The four riders were caught just exactly at the final five-kilometer mark; a mass sprint then ensued.

Tomorrow’s second stage will be considerably more demanding, because the last third of it has three mountain classifications, which will deliver the first time gaps.