As home crowd favourites Team Sky signalled their intent on the opening stage of the Tour of Britain yesterday by keeping Bradley Wiggins safe and sound and out of trouble as Elia Viviani (Cannondale) sprinted to victory at Drumlanrig Castle.

Right from the drop of the flag, the six-man team started controlling the race and consistently kept numerous escapes on a short leash before Wiggins himself edged in front of the group for a one-second time bonus on the final intermediate sprint of the day.

It wasn’t until the closing 6km that Sky surrendered their clutch on the peloton and allowed the sprinters’ teams to come to the fore, with Garmin-Sharp and Omega Pharma – Quick-Step setting a hurried pace on the technically demanding run in to the finish.

In the sprint Ian Stannard was the first Sky rider to cross the line in 16th position, with all his team-mates entrenched in a sizable front group which had rolled home together following a late crash in the field.

"For us it was all about protecting Bradley, especially on that tight finishing circuit. Bernie [Eisel] deserves a mention because he controlled the pace for most of the day before [Mat] Hayman took over at the end. All-in-all I think we did a really good job and it was nice to see Brad pick up a bonus second as well,” Stannard said on the Sky website.

"Our plan will be the same tomorrow, making sure Bradley doesn't get distanced before the time trial stage on Tuesday. You have to keep your wits about you on these types of roads, and that was evident today with the crash. "I didn't see much of it but I think someone bumped into Mark Cavendish and that caused a few riders to fall as a result. Cav didn't go down and I was the last person to sneak through just behind him. Fortunately it didn't look as if anyone was too badly hurt and hopefully they'll all be able to start again tomorrow."

Bradley Wiggins is in 9th position overall, nine seconds behind race leader Viviani, while Stannard is one second further adrift in 22nd position.