Tour of Britain: Andre Greipel wins first stage after Mark Cavendish crashes

Greipel will wear the leader's yellow jersey on Monday after the stage win

Germany's Andre Greipel won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain after Mark Cavendish crashed out.

Lotto Soudal's Greipel, 34, won the 100.5-mile stage from Glasgow to Castle Douglas ahead of Australian Caleb Ewan and Dutch rider Ramon Sinkeldam.

Cavendish, 31, crashed on a tight corner close to the finish, along with Team Sky's Elia Viviani, as he chased an 11th stage victory in the race.

Sir Bradley Wiggins, the 2013 winner, finished safely in the peloton.

Griepel picked up 10 bonus seconds for the stage win, while Dutchman Jasper Bovenhuis (ORI) is second overall in the general classification after picking up nine bonus seconds having won three of the four intermediate sprints during the stage.

Wiggins and Cavendish are competing in their first races since winning gold and silver medals respectively at the Olympic Games in August.

Cavendish rode away from the crash, while Italian Viviani, who beat the Manxman to gold on the track in Rio, had his bike broken in two.

Greipel, who won his fifth Tour of Britain stage, said: "I've done six weeks of training after the Tour de France and this race is really important towards the next goal [October's Road World Championships in Qatar - where a relatively flat route is expected to favour the sprinters].

"The Tour of Britain is quite a tough race, but it's the right moment in the race calendar."

Monday's second stage sees the riders race 187.7km (116.6 miles) from Carlisle to Kendal.

Stage one result:

1. Andre Greipel (Ger/LOT) 3hrs 52mins 40secs

2. Caleb Ewan (Aus/ORI) same time

3. Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned/GIA)

4. Maximiliano Richeze (Arg/ETI)

5. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita/TRE)

6. Nicola Ruffoni (Ita/BAR)

7. Steele Von Hoff (Aus/ONE)

8. Chris Latham (GB/WIG)

9. Daniel Mclay (GB/FOR)

10. Jens Debusschere (Bel/LOT)

General Classification

1 Andre Greipel (Ger/LOT 3hrs 52mins 30secs

2 Jasper Bovenhuis (Ned/SKT) + 1 sec

3 Caleb Ewan (Aus/OBE) + 4 secs

4 Peter Williams (GB/ONE) + 4 secs

5 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned/TGA) + 6 secs

6 Jonathan McEvoy (GB/NPC) + 8 secs

7 Thomas Moses (GB/JLT) + 9 secs

8 Ariel Maximilano Richeze (Arg/EQS) + 10 secs

9 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita/TFS) + 10 secs

10 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita/BAR) + 10 secs