The opening stage was from Rochdale to Blackpool and was 132km long and saw a three man breakaway who got up to five and a half minutes clear before being pulled back.
Andre Greipel suffered two punctures but as the race got into Blackpool on a wet day, Mark Renshaw and Tony Martin led out Greipel who was over the line, just ahead of Manuel Belletti.
"The puncture made it all a bit more difficult, but we came through ok thanks to some great teamwork," HTC-Columbia's Sports Director Brian Holm said to his team's press office. "We pulled back a break, but then André punctured with eight kilometres to go. I got almost everybody to stop, and Marco [Pinotti, HTC-Columbia teammate] gave him his wheel. Then Tony Martin took André back up to the bunch and he got there three kilometres from the finish."
According to Holm, if the puncture had happened a kilometre later, then Greipel wouldn't have been able to get back to the bunch before the finish. "There's a 90 degree turn on this stage just a little later where the road turns onto the beach and where the bunch always gets strung out. But we got him back in time, and we got our first win and the lead too."
Stage two is around Stoke on Trent tomorrow and is 100 miles long.