Marcel Kittel edges out Peter Sagan to take Stage 2

With about 7km to go there was a big crash that ended up holding up a lot of the leading riders.

A potential massive group sprint was prevented as the peloton shrank and as the group entered the final few kilometres the Katusha-Alpecin team sprang into action to protect Kittel and give him an excellent lead out.

He had to battle hard to hold off Sagan but he managed to do so and secure his first victory of the season.

After the victory Kittel was full of praise for his team.

"I’ve been waiting a long time for this victory now. Since the beginning of the season not everything was always working perfect and we tried very hard, and finally we got this victory as a reward," he said.

"I’m very happy, the team did a very good job today. I have to say a big, big thank you to everyone for helping me. I think this is a big boost for the whole group."

Patrick Bevan moves into the blue leader's jersey with a fifth-placed finish and his BMC Racing team have a four-strong stranglehold at the top of the general classification with Damiano Caruso, Greg van Avermaet and Rohan Dennis following him.

Team Sky make up the bottom five riders in the top ten with Michal Kwiatkowski leading team-mates Geraint Thomas, Salvatore Puccio, Chris Froome and Jonathan Castroviejo.

One of the serious injuries from the crash was Stefan Kung (BMC Racing) and the team tweeted to say he's been taken for x-rays.