Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) kick started his bid to lead Germany at the World Championships in Doha with a comprehensive win at the Tour of Britain on stage 1 in Scotland.
The German, who last won on the Champs Elysees at the Tour de France, hit the front with 150 metres to go on the stage to Castle Douglas, with Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExhange) finishing second.
"It's always nice to start of with a victory. We're setting goals to win a stage and we've reached that on the first day. We can be happy," a beaming Greipel said as he sat down for his stage winner's press conference in the Legions Club bar.
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A crash in the final tight lefthand corner took out a number of Greipel's rivals, including Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), but Greipel's dominant performance capped a successful day for his Belgian team after they had worked throughout the stage.
"It's not always easy to make a leadout with six guys. We had to chase down the break and we did a good job to keep me up there in the last corner. I had a really good leadout until the final 150 metres with Marcel Sieberg and Jens Debusschere in front of me. Of course I'm happy to finish it off."
Lotto Soudal came into the Tour of Britain with a number of ambitions and stage 2 from Carlisle to Kendal could see a number of the GC hopefuls come to the fore. In Tony Gallopin, the Belgian team has a rider capable of securing a second stage win.
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