Marcel Kittel wins opening stage in Sacramento

Kittel outsprints Bora - Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan and Team Sky's Elia Viviani to take the victory

The opening stage was fairly flat in Sacramento. A breakaway of four riders was established that included riders are Floris Gerts (BMC) Jonathan Clarke, Charles Planet and Ben Wolfe (Jelly Belly)

With 42 miles to go, the 4 riders in the breakaway had a 2 minute lead, behind a split opened up in the Peloton as Quick-Step and Katusha increased the pace.

Luckily for the behind, Rally cycling and Team Sky brought the back of the bunch back together.

The gap to the break came down and was reeled just after reaching the 3 lap finishing circuit.

Bora - Hansgrohe, Quick-Step, Katusha and team Sky all vying for positions at the front.

On the final sprint Quick-Step led out Kittel to near perfection and behind Sagan was too far back to outsprint Kittel in the closing metres.

Team Sky's Elia Viviani taking 3rd place.

While second spot was disappointing for Peter Sagan, he was happy to be back racing again in a race he knows well. “It’s good to be racing in California. As expected, today’s opening stage finished in a bunch sprint in Sacramento and I gave it my all. Having been thirteen days since my last race and after an intensive high altitude training session, it wasn’t easy to kick into race mode. I am satisfied with my condition, I had good sensations and I feel I’m on the right path for the rest of the race.”

Tomorrow's Stage 2 features 5 categorized climbs and the HC climb of Mount Hamilton, one for the climbers.

2017 Tour of California Men's Race stage One Top Ten

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
4 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
5 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
6 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
7 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
8 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
9 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Travis Mccabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team

2017 Tour of California Men's Race Overall after Stage One

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 3:45:25
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:06
4 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:00:09
5 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
6 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
7 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
8 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
9 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac

#AMGENTOC

¡Victoria de Marcel Kittel (Quick Step) en la primera etapa del Tour of California! pic.twitter.com/Sj5UE7K5Jt
— Alpe d'Huez B&T (@Alpe__dHuez) May 14, 2017