Rasmussen wins opening stage in Bayern-Rundfahrt

Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Sharp) sprinted to victory in the opening stage of the Bayern-Rundfahrt and earned the first leader's jersey at the German stage race. Ben Swift (Sky) and Juan Jose Lobato (Euskaltel-Euskadi) rounded out the top three in the 193km stage from Pfaffenhofen - Mühldorf a.Inn contested under rainy, cold conditions.

"There was wind and rain the whole day long, it was simply one of those days that never wanted to end," said Rasmussen. "But when we came onto the finishing circuit I again found my motivation and concentrated on the finale. I had great legs and I won - that was perfect."

The first day of racing at Bayern-Rundfahrt was dominated by a four-man break which formed eight kilometres into the stage. On the attack were Grischa Janorschke (Nutrixxion Abus), Henning Bommel (Rad-Net Rose Team), Alexander Grad (Team Heizomat) and Javier Megias Leal (Team Novo Nordisk). The quartet's lead ballooned out to nearly 11 minutes, but once the WorldTour teams of Sky, Blanco and FDJ plus MTN-Qhubeka organised the chase the break's advantage was reduced to inside of four minutes with 40km remaining.

By the time the break reached the 8.6km finishing circuit, to be contested three times, their lead had fallen to less than one minute. The escapees pressed onwards, however, with the final member, Janorschke, caught with just five kilometres to go. Both Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling) and Adriano Malori (Lampre-Merida) tried solo attacks in the closing kilometres, but the sprinters' teams neutralised their escapes and set up the field sprint finale.

Rasmussen, who returned to racing in April following a suspension from missing out of competition doping tests, was pragmatic about holding the leader's jersey on Thursday's more difficult stage.

"Realistically, I'll lose the yellow jersey - tomorrow's stage is really hard," said Rasmussen. "But of course I'll try everything to defend the jersey. Then I'll concentrate on the time trial where I want to land on top again."