Elia Viviani (Sky) confirmed that he has the speed to beat the fastest sprinters in the world when he got the Tour of Britain off to the perfect start for the local Sky team. Starting his sprint from third position, he beat Mark Cavendish who had been given the perfect lead-out, in a photo finish and this was enough to take both the stage win and the overall lead after the first stage of the race.

For several years, it has been clear that Elia Viviani has the speed to beat the top sprinters but for a long time he has missed the team support to challenge the best. This has changed in 2015 when he has been signed by Sky as part of their renewed focus on the sprints.

Viviani already delivered at the start of the year when he beat Mark Cavendish in the Dubai Tour and it was André Greipel who was unable to match his speed in the Eneco Tour and in the Giro. Hence, the Italian was confident that he could again beat the two giants when he lined up for today’s first stage of the Tour of Britain. He confirmed his potential as he gave Sky the perfect start to their home race by again denying the two stars a win.

With 17km to go, a strong breakaway with Kristian House (JLT), Thomas Stewart (Madison Genesis), Conor Dunne (An Post) and Peter Williams (One Pro) still had an advantage of 1.00 and as Andrew Fenn (Sky) had not gone any help for most of the stage, the situation was starting to get a bit dangerous. It had even gone out to 1.15 two kilometres later and it was time for the sprint teams to join forces with the local heroes.

First it was Petr Vakoc (Etixx-QuickStep) who came to the fore and with 12km to go, Frederik Frison and Pim Ligthart (Lotto Soudal) also started to take some massive turns. Nonetheless, the gap was still 1.00 as they entered the final 10km. Here Zdenek Stybar came to the fore for Etixx-QuickStep

Ligthart looked extremely strong and as the chase got more organized – with Ian Stannard replacing the fatigued Fenn – their effort started to pay off. With 6km to go, they had shaved another 20 seconds off the advantage.

In the front group, they were still working really well together while Ligthart, Frison and Vakoc ended his work in the peloton. Stannard took one final turn but with 4km to go it was all left to Stybar and Etixx-QyuickStep.

House decided to attack and he stayed clear for 500m before Williams joined him. They still had an advantage of 10 seconds with 2km to go.

The front quartet came back together but as Matteo Trentin was going full gas for Etixx-QuiskStep, the peloton was breathing down their necks. Williams and House tried a desperate final attack but with 1.5km to go, it was all back together.

Stybar, Fernando Gaviria, Mark Renshaw and Mark Cavendish were lined out on the front and it was the Colombian who hit the front as they passed the flamme rouge. He rode strongly for more than 500m before Renshaw did the lead-out for Cavendish who had Greipel and Viviani on his wheel.

The Brit launched his sprint from the perfect position and Greipel tried to pass him on the right while Viviani came on the left-hand side. While the German missed the speed, the Italian narrowly

The 12th edition of the Tour of Britain kicked off with a 177.7km stage that brought the riders from Beaumaris to Wrexham. After a relatively flat start, the riders got to a hilly middle section where they tackled a category 2 climb and two category 2 ascents. The final summit was located 34km from the finish and from there it was mainly downhill or flat in the final part of the stage.

Four riders get clear

It was a sunny day in Wales when the riders gathered for the start and as it is always the case in a race with lots of continental teams, it was a fast opening phase with lots of attacks. Finally, four riders managed to get clear as House, Stewart, Williams and Dunne managed to open an advantage that had gone ut to 3.50 at the 20km mark.

No one showed much interest in doing the chase work and so the gap had gone out to 6.10 at the 25km mark where Michael Thomson (Wiggins) tried to bridge the gap. He never made the junction and was back in the fold when the riders reached the 42km mark at the end of the first hour.

Vakoc and Fenn set the pace

Dunne beat Williams and Stewart in the first intermediate sprint at a time when the gap had gone out to 9 minutes. However, Fenn now hit the front for Sky and started to slowly reel the break in.

The gap was down to 6.30 as they hit the first climb as Petr Vakoc also started to work for Etixx-QuickStep. A little later, Williams beat Stewart, House and Dunne in the KOM sprint. Mark McNally and Eddie Dunbar came out of the peloton to pick up the rest of the points.

Vakoc stops his work

House beat Stewart and Williams in the second KOM sprint while Fenn and Vakoc continued their steady pace-setting. With 75km to go, the gap was down to 4.20 and it was only 3.20 with 68km to go.

As they entered the final 60km, the gap was down to 2.50 and this indicated that the situation was under control. Hence, Vakoc stopped his work and left it to Fenn to ride on the front and the Brit kept the gap stable for a while.

House attacks

As the front group approached the second sprint, Dunne attacked and as he got a big gap, it looked like he would take the win. However, Williams managed to catch him and win the sprint while Stewart rolled across the line in third.

Fenn accelerated again and brought the gap down to 1.35 as they entered the final 40km. Vakoc was now back on the front to work with the Brit as they hit the final climb. Here House attacked and he crested the summit as the lone leader before he was brought back by his chasers.

House attacks again

The gap was stable at 1.40 as Fenn was now again the lone pace-setter. Moments later, House attacked again to win the final sprint while Dunne beat Williams in the battle for second.

The front group came back together and they still had an advantage of 1.15 as they entered the final 20km. It was down to 1 minute with 17km to go but as Fenn was still not getting any help, it looked like the escapees could create surprise until the chase finally got organized.