Andre Greipel sprints to Stage 1 win at Tour of Britain

ByEurosport

Updated 02/09/2018 at 18:45 GMT

Andre Greipel (Lotto–Soudal) beat Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-SCOTT) and Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step) to win the first stage of the Tour of Britain.

Fernando Gaviria of Colombia and Team Quick-Step Floors / Andre Greipel of Germany and Team Lotto Soudal / Caleb Ewan of Australia and Team Mitchelton-Scott / during the 15th Tour of Britain 2018, Stage 1 a 174,8km stage from Pembrey Country Park to Newp

Image credit: Getty Images

Eurosport Player One Year Pass for just £39.99

The stage was set up for a sprint finish after a 174.8km ride from Pembrey Country Park to Newport.

Cycling

'It means a lot to me' - Ewan rejoins Jayco AIUla to seal homecoming, Groenewegen extends deal

12/10/2023 at 08:33

Gaviria went first but ran out of legs, leaving a straight fight between Ewan and Greipel but the Gorilla just had too much to clinch the 154th win of his career.

“I went with 200 metres to go, and yeah I’m happy that I could finish it off,” the German said post race.

It’s a long time that I didn’t win and now I’m happy that I could finally win again.

Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas, who briefly attacked in the latter stages, and Team Sky team-mate Chris Froome both finished safely in the peloton on the opening day.

"Winning stage one brings the leader's jersey with it, which is always a nice thing. This is a big race, so it's prestigious to wear the jersey in the race," Greipel said.

We wanted to win a stage, so we're happy that we made it possible on the first day. It was really tough with the final climb coming with seven kilometres to go.

"We knew that we needed the numbers to pull back the break, as we expected that they'd go crazy up the climb. The team did a really good job to bring back Bob Jungels [Quick-Step Floors].

"I had a really good lead-out by Jasper de Buyst, so I'm happy that I could time it right and finish it off. We expected it to be a bunch sprint - I'm happy that I could win again."

The 36-year-old will wear the green jersey tomorrow’s stage, a 174.9km ride from Cranbook to Barnstable.