Nick van der Lijke finished outside the top ten in the first stage of the Tour of Britain. Elia Viviani of Team Sky won the stage. The Italian nipped Mark Cavendish and André Greipel in the bunch sprint.

The first stage led the riders through the hills from Beaumaris to Wrexham. A breakaway of four riders rode at the front for most of the day. When they reached nine minutes, the teams of the sprinters began chasing. In the last three kilometres, the leaders were caught. Nick van der Lijke sprinted for Team LottoNL-Jumbo instead of Moreno Hofland.

"Moreno still has problems from his crashes in recent times," Nico Verhoeven said after the finish. "We agreed that he would not sprint today. We didn’t want to force things. Nick tried but finished outside the top ten.”

The LottoNL-Jumbo riders survived the first stage properly. Nick van der Lijke took it upon himself to get into the mix in the bunch sprint. He finished 15th.

"At 30 kilometres there was a nice climb, but the sprinters’ teams controlled the race well," said Nick van der Lijke about the finish. "I could sprint for my own chances. I was in good position until 800 meters before the finish, but I was boxed in and couldn’t make up that ground in time. After the last turn towards the finish, I could still move up some places but all was lost."

Tomorrow covers 159 kilometres reach Colne. Along the way, the riders will have to overcome a number of ascents like today.

"It will be a bit more difficult than today," continued Verhoeven. "It may be so much that a dozen men will get away and that the overall ranking is decided. Still, I expect the sprinters’ teams to control. We want to be in the right break.”