Eneco Tour 2015 Stage 1: Viviani sprints to victory and overall lead

The opening-stage of the Eneco Tour is a 183 kilometres spin through the flat fields of Friesland in the north of the Netherland. That not only sounds like a sprint-stage, the ride explodes in a battle between fast men. Elia Viviani is fastest, besting home-rider Danny van Popel by a tiny margin. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 1st stage Eneco Tour

1. Elia Viviani (ita)
2. Danny van Poppel (nld) s.t.
3. Jean-Pierre Drucker (lux) s.t.
4. André Greipel (ger) s.t.
5. Jonas Vangenechten (bel) s.t.
6. Andrea Guardini (ita) s.t.
7. Magnus Cort Nielsen (den) s.t.
8. Moreno Hofland (nld) s.t.
9. José-Joaquin Rojas (spa) s.t.
10. Dylan Groenewegen (nld) s.t.

GC after stage 1
1. Elia Viviani (ita)
2. Danny van Poppel (nld) + 0.04
3. Jesper Asselman (nld) s.t.
4. Laurens de Vreese (bel) + 0.05
5. Nico Denz (ger) s.t.
6. Jean-Pierre Drucker (lux) + 0.06
7. Nathan Haas (aus) + 0.08
8. André Greipel (ger) + 0.10
9. Jonas Vangenechten (bel) s.t.
10. Andrea Guardini (ita) s.t.

Race report
Soon after the start Jesper Asselman, Frederik Veuchelen, Laurens De Vreese, Nathan Haas, David Boucher and Nico Denz join forces and they race to a 7 minutes advantage. There it lingers for a while, but after the first hour the peloton closes the gap slowly but gradually.

When entering Bolsward for the finale two laps the gap is down to 1 minute.

With 15 kilometres to go the bunch is complete again and the sprint is unavoidable. Team Sky launches Elia Viviani perfectly and he bests young Dutchmen Danny van Poppel in the sprint.

Today’s route.