Greipel wins opening stage at Tour of Belgium

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Andre Greipel has won the opening stage of the Tour of Belgium, covering 162km between Mechelen and Buggenhout. The 29-year-old German sprinted to his eighth victory of the season in a very tight finish against runner-up Danilo Napolitano (Acqua & Sapone) and third-placed Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM). Napolitano actually raised his arms in the air at the finish, thinking he'd won the stage, but the photo finish camera gave Greipel the nod.

"It wasn't an easy victory, but winning is winning," said Greipel. "I had few advantage at the finish line, but was surprised that Napolitano threw his hands in the air. For myself, I wanted to wait for confirmation.

"It was a sprint with wind coming from the other side, which made me hesitate to go. The team worked great. Everybody did exactly what we had discussed before the race, and that makes me very happy.

"We got in front at about one kilometer and a half before the finish, after some other guys had done their work in the earlier pursuit. A victory in the first race is good to boost up our confidence, though my sprinting skills need to be sharpened. It's a first step and hopefully we can make some more in this Tour of Belgium."

With time bonuses factored in Greipel claimed the leader's jersey with a four-second advantage over Napolitano while Van Hummel holds third overall at six seconds.

An eight rider break containing Michael Schär (BMC Racing Team), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Egidijus Juodvalkis (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Paolo Ciavatta (Acqua Sapone), Leonardo Fabio Duque (Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne), Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano), Arnaud Jouffroy (Telenet-Fidea) and Philippe Legrand (Wallonie Bruxelles-Credit Agricole) formed after 21km of racing and pushed out an advantage of approximately three minutes over the peloton.

Fifteen kilometres from the finish, as the peloton was about to absorb the break, Wallays attacked and was joined by Schär as well as Geschke. The remaining escapees were swept up by the peloton while the lead trio remained off the front until seven kilometres remained when they, too, were brought back.

Kenneth Vanbilsen (An Post-Sean Kelly) launched a solo counter-attack, but the teams of the sprinters quickly ended his bid for victory and kept the peloton together for a field sprint finale, with Greipel prevailing in a photo finish.