Marcel Kittel sprinted to 21th at the opening stage of World Ports Classic, the stage that went from Rotterdam to Antwerpen was won by Andrea Guardini.

It was a very fast first stage in the Dutch/Belgian two-day race with an average speed of 48km/h in the first two hours of racing.

Five riders made the early break, but never got too much space, as the risk of echelons was constantly there because of the strong crosswinds.

After 195km Andrea Guardini (Astana Pro Team) won the bunch sprint in the port of Antwerpen as Marcel Kittel made his return in competition with a 21th place in the sprint.

Kittel said: “I am happy with my restart here in the World Ports Classics. My legs were better than I expected upfront and I felt strong on the bike.

“Unfortunately, the final sprint wasn’t as good as I hoped, but I was there and it’s coming back.”

Coach Rudi Kemna added: “In case of a hard race our plan was to go for Ramon [Sinkeldam] in the sprint. When the race would develop in favor of Marcel, he would get the chance to sprint.

“We were involved in three separate crashes today, and one of them took out Lars [van der Haar], unfortunately he was unable to complete the race.

“Marcel felt good until the final 400 meters as he misses that final punch at the moment, but that is completely according to the expectations. He is on the right track for now and he will use the races as an ideal way to further improve. The plans for tomorrow will be the same as we still aim on stage success.”