Fernando Gaviria wins the opening sprinters stage of the Tour of California

The Quick-Step rider out-sprinted Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan, the Colombian sprinter took the leader's yellow jersey

The opening Stage in Long Beach was 12 laps on a completely flat circuit a little over 7 miles, 84 miles in total. With the peloton's top sprinter's present, a bunch sprint seemed very likely.

Two riders established a breakaway; Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) and Andrei Krasilnikau (Holowesko-Citadel) and they built up a 2m 30 secs advantage.

The peloton led by the sprinter's teams kept the gap around two minutes, most of the work was done by the sprinters teams; Quick-Step Floors (Gaviria), Mitchelton-Scott (Ewan) and Katusha (Kittel).

There were two intermediate sprints on the road and Tanner Putt won both of them, ahead of his breakaway companion Krasilnikau.

In the peloton there was a fight for the remaining points, Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) won the sprint the first time, while José Álvaro Hodeg (Quick Step Floors) won the second sprint.

The sprinters teams began the chase with Bora-hansgrohe (Sagan), UAE-Emirates (Kristoff), Sunweb (Walscheid) and EF Education First (McLay) at the front. With just under one lap to go the peloton reeled in the two breakaway leaders.

In the final 2 kilometres Quick-Step Floors sprint train came to the front towing Gaviria. They led out the peloton to the finish, where Gaviria outsprinted Ewan and Sagan.

Tomorrow's Stage 2 finishes on Gibraltar Road, with Peter Stetina looking to win the stage for Trek-Segafredo.

VIDEO: 2018 Tour of California Stage 1 Highlights

2018 Tour of California Stage 1 Top 10

1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 3:02:23
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott  
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe  
4 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin  
5 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates  
6 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Hagens Berman Axeon  
7 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo  
8 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb  
9 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling  
10 Mark Cavendish (GBR) Dimension Data

2018 Tour of California GC after Stage 2

1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott  
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe  
4 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin  
5 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates  
6 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Hagens Berman Axeon  
7 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo  
8 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb  
9 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling  
10 Mark Cavendish (GBR) Dimension Data