The first stage of the Tour of Britain ended with a bunch sprint, the four members of an early breakaway were only caught close to the finish. A photo finish revealed that Elia Viviani was the winner ahead of Mark Cavendish. André Greipel finished third while Pim Ligthart was sixth.

“The four escapees got lots of freedom," sports director Marc Wauters said. "We let trainee Frederik Frison help in the chase, he worked together with riders of Etixx – QuickStep.

"André Greipel wanted to return the favour to Jens Debusschere, but he had a puncture with ten kilometres to go. The guys brought him back in the bunch but he couldn’t move up to the front anymore. André waited as long as possible, but had to do the sprint himself. He chose the wheel of Cavendish, but couldn’t pass him by anymore.”