American Tyler Farrar continued his successful end of season by beating sprint rivals Danilo Napolitano and Tom Boonen to win the first stage of the Circuit Franco-Belge

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• Stage result

Garmin sprinter Farrar will start the race's second stage, held over 225km between Maubeuge in France to Poperinge in Belgium, with the race leader's jersey.

Farrar had a promising, but winless Tour de France campaign in July but bounced back to win the Hamburg Cyclassics one-day race in August.

He continued his good form by winning three stages at the Eneco Tour, and also won a stage at the three-week Tour of Spain which finished last Sunday.