A difficult opening stage of the 1st Tour de Yorkshire ended up in a hard day for Team Giant-Alpecin. Five riders escaped in the finale and went for victory, as Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) was the fastest on the line. Lars van der Haar won the bunch sprint and finished 28th.

Before the stage the team decided that Caleb Fairly was not fit enough to start. The American heads home to recover. After 100km the situation became worse for the team when Marcel Kittel could not cope with a combination of the high pace and hilly roads, unfortunately he had to abandon the race.

In the meantime, five riders made the escape to battle for victory. In the streets of the Scarborough it was Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) who was the fastest. The Norwegian will be the first-ever leader in the Tour de Yorkshire. Lars van de Haar won the bunch sprint and finished 28th. Also Tom Stamsnijder was part of that group, he crossed the line at 55th.

Coach Marc Reef after the stage: “Unfortunately we were unable to play a major role in today’s stage. It was a really hard stage. From the second climb it was full gas to the finish and not surprisingly that wasn’t beneficial for Marcel. Of course we knew that Marcel was still far from his best shape and due to the high pace he was forced to abandon the race. For now, we stick to the plan that we have with Marcel and we continue to work towards his next goals.

“Most of our riders come from either a rest period or a period of hard training, so we have to take that into account. Tomorrow there will be another day with new chances for us on a less-hilly course. Tonight we will be screening our opportunities again and in a case of a sprint we will compete for a nice result.”