Marcel Kittel timed his sprint perfectly to take victory and move into the overall lead on stage one of the Tour de Pologne.
The German sprint sensation benefitted from the good work of his Skil-Shimano team-mates on a hectic final run-in to win by a comfortable margin in Warsaw.
The 23-year-old held off the attentions of Alexander Kristoff (BMC) and Francesco Chicchi (Quick Step) to win by a bike-length to take his ninth victory of the season.
A long drag to the line made life difficult for a field of sprinters who had to gauge their efforts so as to not kick too early.
Lampre and HTC-Highroad came to the fore as teams tried to impose their will on a tough finishing circuit with a field that was tightly-packed on the final lap.
Victory in the Polish capital sees Kittel become the first recipient of the leader's yellow jersey to add to the rider's first victory in WorldTour competition.
Sprint certainty
A short 101.5km blast was the order of the day with the sprinters expected to come to the fore as the stage race got under way.
It was no surprise to see a six-man break move clear in the early going with Rabobank and Skil-Shimano among the interested sprinters' teams helping with the pace-setting in the bunch.
The motivated group worked together well to build up a decent margin as the race moved on to the day's finishing circuit, yet inevitably the gap was slowly whittled down during eight laps of the 8.1km course around Warsaw.
At the end of lap five Arkimedes Arguelyes (Katusha) tried to escape the attentions of his breakaway partners to soak up sprint points while in the bunch there was a crash as the peloton briefly ran out of room on the barrier-lined circuit.
With the break caught on the penultimate lap just metres from the sprint point Polish rider Michal Golas (Vacansoleil) ducked out to take the day's only mountain points and claim the pink jersey.
On the run to the line a number of riders kicked too early and it was left to Kittel to demonstrate a calm head on young shoulders to take the win.
