Belgian Wout van Aert produced a flawless sprint to win the opening stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race, a 156-km ride around Lido di Camaiore in Italy on Wednesday.
Van Aert, a one-day race and cyclocross specialist, timed his effort to perfection to beat pure sprinters Australian Caleb Ewan and Fernando Gaviria of Colombia, who were second and third, respectively.
Triple world champion Peter Sagan, taking part in his first race this season after testing positive for COVID-19 last month, took 11th place.
Thursday's second stage is a 202-km hilly ride from Camaiore to Chiusdino.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
