Greipel wins opening stage at Tour of Belgium

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André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) sprinted to his eighth victory of the 2013 season with his win today in the first stage at the Tour of Belgium. Greipel crossed the finish line in Knokke-Heist first ahead of Belgian champion Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano).

With the stage win and time bonuses, Greipel also tops general classification with a four-second lead on Boonen and a six-second advantage over Sinkeldam.

"It was a victory from the text book," said Greipel. "The final was hectic with many turns, but we were well-organized and could stay together. The guys perfectly prepared the sprint. My gear was a bit too big, but I finished it off.

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"I am very happy with this win. We work together very well, other riders looked to us in the way up to the sprint because we have such an excellent train."

Boonen showed that he's bounced back well after a serious crash at the Tour of Flanders. He had returned to racing earlier this month at the Tour de Picardie and today went head-to-head with Greipel for the stage win.

"I'm happy about my race even if I did a mistake waiting for the sprint of Greipel," Boonen said. "It's not easy to beat him when he can launch his sprint. Tomorrow we will see. The parcours is not so difficult, so it won't be easy to make the race hard and avoid the possibility of a sprint."

Olivier Chevalier (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Laurens De Vreese (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Dieter Uyttersprot (To Win-Josan Cycling Team) and Alphonse Vermote (An Post-Chainreaction) formed the early escape which achieved a maximum lead of four minutes. Lotto Belisol, confident in their sprinter Greipel, took command of the chase and ultimately brought the break back with 26 kilometres remaining.

Jos Van Emden (Blanco) and Thijs Al (Telenet-Fidea) attacked in the closing kilometres, but their escape, too, would come to naught. The Lotto Belisol train kicked into high gear with two kilometres to go and Greipel delivered the team both the stage win and leader's jersey.

"Tomorrow's stage suits Jürgen Roelandts very well, but it will also be difficult to get rid of me on the climbs," said Greipel of his chances to retain the leader's jersey.