The Tour of Belgium kicked off today. A strong field has assembled for the five-stage race and a bunch sprint finish in Knokke-Heist saw the Lotto-Belisol sprinter beat Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma QuickStep) and Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano) to the line.

A flat 194.2km stage from Lochristi saw an early break featuring Alphonse Vermote, Pieter Uyttersprot, Laurens De Vreese and Olivier Chevalier. However, they were not allowed a lead in excess of four and a half minutes and despite a renewed effort from the latter duo, the escape finished with 25km to go.

A series of counter-attacks in the final stages failed to have a lasting effect and the Lotto-Belisol train set up the eighth win of the year for Greipel.

“It was a victory from the text book," Greipel said afterward. “The final was hectic with many turns, but we were well organized and could stay together. The guys perfectly prepared the sprint. 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.”

He continued: “We are racing together again for the first time since Tirreno-Adriatico. 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.”

Bad luck struck once again for Thomas Voeckler, who only returned to action last week after fracturing his collarbone in mid-April. Halfway through the stage the Frenchman crashed due to a malfunction with his attached water bottle and trailed home behind the peloton.

Result, stage 1:

1 André Greipel - Lotto Belisol 4.34.53
2 Tom Boonen - Omega Pharma-Quick Step
3 Ramon Sinkeldam - Team Argos-Shimano
4 Danny van Poppel - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
5 Michael Van Staeyen - Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
6 Yukiya Arashiro - Team Europcar
7 Tom Van Asbroeck - Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
8 Niki Terpstra - Omega Pharma-Quick Step
9 Maxime Vantomme - Crelan-Euphony
10 Adrien Petit - Cofidis, Solutions Credits