The opening stage of the World Ports Classic led the peloton from Rotterdam in the Netherlands to Antwerp in Belgium. The 195 km flat stage was taken by Italian Andrea Guardini (Astana) in a high speed bunch sprint. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg finished in eighth.
 

The stage got off to a hectic start with a lead group of five breaking clear. The quintet established a lead of around 2 minutes. Andy Stauff represented Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung. The tall German tried hard to stay out front in the wind, but the peloton had other things in mind.

The break was eventually brought back with 30 km to go. In the finale the race got hectic again in the wind with another break trying its luck but it was all together in the end. Guardini managed to tackle the fast run-in best and won ahead of Yauheni Hutarovich (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal). Van Rensburg looked good until the last corner, but had to settle for 8th.

"It was quite nervous all day with the wind, but the team did a great job and we were in a good position all day. In the final the team did a good leadout for me. Although we lost each other a bit in the last 3 km, I was in a good position 1 km to go. Maybe I could have been a little braver in the final corner and a podium was possible," van Rensburg said.