Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) sprinted to the Tour of California stage 1 victory in Sacramento ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Elia Viviani (Team Sky).
Team Sky went to the front on the first of three 3.5km circuits, but it was Quick-Step Floors that made the decisive move on the final lap with Fabio Sabatini launching Kittel to the finish line.
“I’m happy to make my return to the Tour of California with a stage victory, which came with this beautiful yellow jersey as bonus. I enjoyed being out there today: the stage was nice, we had great weather and some really fantastic fans who gave us a warm welcome. It’s an excellent start to the race for our team, which gives us even more confidence and motivation for next week. The guys were strong throughout the day and rode intelligently, I’m very proud of them, so chapeau for an impeccable job”, said Marcel Kittel.
?| @marcelkittel of @quickstepteam wins stage 1 of Tour of California 2017 #AmgenTOC?? pic.twitter.com/MCMoa7G69C
— CyclingHub (@CyclingHubTV) 14 mai 2017
Tour of California 2017 – stage 1 results (Sacramento – Sacramento):
| 1 | Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) | 3:45:35 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Elia Viviani (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 4 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 5 | Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) | ,, |
| 6 | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 7 | Martin Velits (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 8 | Marko Kump (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 9 | Wouter Wippert (Cannondale-Drapac) | ,, |
| 10 | Travis Mccabe (UnitedHealthcare) | ,, |
