Joy for Marcel Kittel at Tour of Britain

Marcel Kittel celebrates after winning the first stage of the Tour of Britain in Liverpool. Picture: Getty Images

Germany’s Kittel (Giant-Shimano) completed the Liverpool stage in two hours, 16 minutes and 35 seconds, just ahead of second-placed Italian Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF) and Briton Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), who is still recovering from shoulder surgery following his Tour de France-ending crash.

American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) was in fourth place, with another home favourite in Ben Swift coming fifth. Swift’s compatriot, Team Sky colleague and defending champion Sir Bradley Wiggins, was safely within the peloton, finishing 74th.

Wiggins did only narrowly avoid a crash towards the end involving another British Team Sky rider, Ian Stannard.

Meanwhile, Cavendish pushed on to achieve his podium finish despite having crashed into a car earlier in the race.

The incident occurred when the Manxman and team-mate Mark Renshaw were attempting to rejoin the peloton after a comfort break.

Describing it after the race, Cavendish admitted that he  had been in some considerable pain.

He said: “I was coming back and I was behind a car.

“Someone had to stop for a puncture so the car slammed on its brakes, and there was an island in the road. If I went right, I would hit a traffic island, so I went left and I whacked another car.

“I hit it with my left leg and I was down on the road. I felt immediately a lot of pain on my quadriceps.

“It took me a lap to come back even because our team car couldn’t assist me immediately because it was on the front.

“At that point I wasn’t planning to sprint either, it was painful. But after a couple of laps we decided to just try anyway, but sprint seated because I was in pain.

“I still got third, but it’s a shame because I really wanted to try and win in front of the British public.

“But accidents like this are a part of cycling and it’s just a matter of bad luck. I really hope that the luck turns in the next days.”

Today’s second stage is a 200.8 kilometre route from Knowsley to Llandudno in north Wales.