Kittel claims stage 1 of Ster ZLM Toer

Marcel Kittel showed his form for the upcoming Tour de France, winning the mass sprint of the first stage of the Ster ZLM Toer. The Argos-Shimano rider beat out none other than top sprinters Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Mark Cavendish (Sky).

The win, Kittel's sixth and his first since the beginning of April, gave him the overall lead in the race.

"It was a good day," said Kittel. "Yesterday the national German football team won and today I triumphed.

"Almost all the top sprinters are here, this win gives us a lot of confidence," added Kittel. "Our train was functioning very well. Everyone knew what to do and carried it out well. It feels good I can blindly trust my teammates."

Renshaw “was certainly not disappointed” with his second place finish. “In particular the sprint preparation went very smoothly,” sport director Erik Dekker said on the Rabobank website.

Team Sky sport director Steven de Jongh explained the unexpected third place for world champion Cavendish. “In the final we tried to lead out Cav but he slightly misjudged the finish and thought the line was further away than it was. He tried to overcome that but said Kittel was going really good which meant he wasn't able to make up the ground."

It didn't take long for the break group to form on the first stage, comprised of Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Jesper Schipper (Cyclingteam De Rijke), Rens te Stroet (Cyclingteam Jo Piels) and Jeffrey Wiersma (Metec Continental Cyclingteam). They flew along and built up a lead of up to 6:30.

The stage ended with a circuit course starting and ending in Geelen, and by the time the field hit that course the gap had dropped dramatically. With only 15km to go, the peloton was together again.

Sky and Rabobank led the way into the finale, and the whole peloton went into the mass sprint, but Kittel proved to be the strongest of the 156 men on the day.