Andre Greipel wins Tour of Britain stage one as Mark Cavendish crashes

Andre Greipel took the first stage of the Tour of Britain

Andre Greipel sprinted to victory on the opening stage of the Tour of Britain in Castle Douglas after avoiding a last-corner crash involving both Mark Cavendish and Elia Viviani.

Cavendish (Dimension Data), Viviani (Team Sky), Danny van Poppel (Team Sky) and Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto NL-Jumbo) all piled into each other on a left-hand turn inside the final 600m.

Greipel (Lotto Soudal) was the first of the remaining sprinters to launch his burst for the line and held on to beat Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExchange) into second place and Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Alpecin) into third.

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The top three received 10, six and four bonus seconds, meaning Greipel moves to the top of the general classification and opens up a one-second lead over second-placed Jasper Bovenhuis (An Post-Chain Reaction), who claimed nine bonus seconds at the day's three intermediate sprints.

Ewan is four seconds down on Greipel in third overall.

Greipel will wear the yellow jersey on Monday's second stage

Greipel said: "It's really nice to start off this Tour of Britain with a victory. We have reached our goal already on the first day so anything else would be on top now.

"Today they tried to get me through that last corner and made a perfect job with only six guys, which is not easy. We managed to do that and I am really proud of the guys."

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Cavendish crossed the line several minutes behind Greipel and revealed he had not been badly hurt.

He said: "I'm all right. I've hurt my arm a bit, but nothing is broken. I don't know [what happened]. Next thing Elia was underneath me and I think he lost his front wheel."

The Tour of Britain continues on Monday with a 187.7km second stage from Carlisle to Kendal. Find out more about the route in our race guide and follow the action with our live blog from 1pm BST.

Stage one result

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Soudal, 3:52:40
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange, same time
3 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, st
4 Max Richeze (Arg) Etixx - Quick-Step, st
5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, st
6 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, st
7 Steele von Hoff (Aus) ONE Pro Cycling, st
8 Chris (GB) WIGGINS, st
9 Dan McLay (GB) Great Britain, st
10 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal, st

General classification

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal, 3:52:30
2 Jasper Bovenhuis (Ned) An Post-Chain Reaction, +1sec
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-BikeExchange, +4
4 Peter Williams (GB) One Pro Cycling, same time
5 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +6
6 Jonathan McEvoy (GB) NFTO, +8
7 Thomas Moses (GB) JLT Condor, +9
8 Max Richeze (Arg) Etixx - Quick-Step, st
9 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, st
10 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, st

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