Kittel wins ZLM Toer stage 1

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Giant-Shimano sprinter Marcel Kittel won the second stage of the Ster ZLM Toer in Sint Willebrord, beating Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) by a bike length. It is Kittel's first victory since he left the Giro d'Italia at the beginning of May.

"I'm really happy with today as I didn't feel that good early on and it took about 100km for the legs to open up," Kittel said at the finish. "After this the feeling started to come back and as a team we nailed it today.

"The first job was staying together in the wet conditions but we managed this fine and then in the final we were in formation and did just what we had planned – they set me up in a great position. I was at the front of the bunch when I started my sprint and the pace was already high so this made a big difference.

"I had a really good training period at altitude prior to this race but I still need a few race days to get the intensity back up and to get back into the rhythm but it’s great to get going with a win again."

After coming fifth in the opening prologue, just over one second behind stage winner Philippe Gilbert, the German now takes over the race leader's jersey thanks to a 10-second time bonus on the line. Meersman moved into second place overall at 10 seconds, with Gilbert in third at 12.

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