As it was the case last year, Andre Greipel kicked off the Tour of Belgium off with a convincing stage win in today's first stage which as expected finished in a bunch sprint. For the first time since March he is surrounded by his complete lead-out train and Greipel said that a formidable team effort was once again the reason behind his success.

Few would disagree in the assessment that the world's best lead-out train is the one that is formed by Marcel Sieberg, Jürgen Roelandts and Greg Henderson and which has delivered Andre Greipel to a large number of victories in recent years. The train proved that it was maybe better than ever in the early part of the season when Greipel once again dominated the Tour Down Under but since then classics objectives for Roelandts has seen the sprint team been spread across different races.

With the Tour de France looming in the horizon, the lead-out team is back together in the Tour of Belgium and they proved on the very first occasion that they still know how to deliver their captain. The German stroke in the first stage of the Lotto-Belisol team's big home tour and moved into the race's first leader's jersey.

"It was a victory from the text book," Greipel said. "The final was hectic with many turns, but we were well organized and could stay together. The guys prepared the sprint perfectly. My gear was a bit too big, but I finished it off. I am very happy with this win. We work together very well, other riders search us in the way up to the sprint because we have such an excellent train."

The Tour of Belgium is just the first step in a string of races that is intended to bring the riders to the start line of the Tour de France with all the mechanisms well-established.

"We are racing together again for the first time since Tirreno-Adriatico," Greipel explained. "From now on it's one line to the Tour de France via the Tour of Zeeland Seaports, Berlin and the ZLM Tour. We now have to get confidence and sharpen the automatisms. Tomorrow's stage suits Jürgen Roelandts very well, but it will also be difficult to get rid of me on the climbs."

The race continues tomorrow with the second stage which is a kind of mini Tour of Flanders as it takes in no less than 7 of the famous hellingen en route to the finish in Ninove. The top of the last one, the Congoberg, will be crested with 12,1km to go and so the stage could prove to be a tough affair.