Intro:

Germany's Marcel Kittel sprints to victory in the opening stage of the Tour of Britain in Liverpool, England.

Script:

In a city famous for The Beatles, everything came together for Marcel Kittel as he won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain in Liverpool on Sunday.

Defending champion Sir Bradley Wiggins looked strong throughout and finished safely in the peloton.

German Kittel became distanced from his Giant-Shimano lead-out train in the closing 2km.

But in the home straight the 6ft 2in cyclist outsprinted second-placed Nicola Ruffoni of Italy and Briton Mark Cavendish, who claimed third.

Manxman Cavendish is recovering from shoulder surgery after crashing out of the Tour de France.

After picking up bonus seconds on the line, Kittel now leads Ruffoni in the general classification by four seconds, with Cavendish two seconds further back in third.