SIR Bradley Wiggins abandoned the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire before LottoNL-Jumbo's Dylan Groenewegen took victory.

Making one of his final appearances in a road race, Wiggins climbed off his bike 26 kilometres from the finish of the 187km route from Beverley to Settle.

The 2012 Tour de France winner had been riding towards the back of the peloton on an unseasonably cold day as they raced along roads which had been dusted with snow at dawn.

Wiggins, who turned 36 on Thursday, was dropped by the pack as they approached the only categorised climb of the day at Greenhow Hill and abandoned soon after the descent.

He did not give any interviews after the race but used Instagram to explain he had to give priority to his ambitions on the track at the Rio Olympics later this summer.

Wiggins wrote: "Great atmosphere in Yorkshire today. It was a tough day's racing, so thanks to everyone who braved the weather and came out. The boys and I really appreciate it. I'm gutted not to join you into the weekend but Rio needs to take priority."

The stage, which had seen riders battle biting temperatures and howling headwinds in the Dales, ended in a bunch sprint as Groenewegen beat Orica-GreenEdge's Caleb Ewan, who found himself boxed in on the narrow finishing straight.

Groenewegen said: "It was very good lead-out from my team. It was perfect. The last corner I took the lead and I could hold it to the finish. I'm very happy with this win. It's very good for me and the team."

The start of the second edition of the Tour once again saw huge crowds line the streets, despite the often grim weather.

The race was soon animated by a six-man break as Embsay rider Pete Williams (One Pro), Matt Cronshaw (Madison Genesis), Graham Briggs (JLT Condor), Sebastian Mora (Raleigh), Jens Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Nils Pollitt (Katusha) built a lead of almost four minutes.

As they approached Greenhow Hill, Williams, Wallays and Pollitt distanced the others and, from the trio, it was the Williams who used his local knowledge to time his move and take the King of the Mountains jersey.

Williams said: "It was a tough day. It was cold and there was a headwind all day. But we've trained all winter around these parts, so today wasn't actually that bad.

"You've just got to get on with it and recover. It was a bit of a cat and mouse up (the climb) but it worked out all right."

Team Sky brought it all back together again around 35km out, before French pair Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energie) and Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) tried their luck with attacks on the final circuit around Settle.

Team Dimension Data's Steve Cummings was the next to go alone but the Tour de France stage winner was reeled in just before the flamme rouge as the sprint teams massed.

After plenty of work on the front of the peloton, Team Sky had to be satisfied with fifth place for Danny van Poppel, although their ambitions remain focused on the general classification which is likely to come down to Sunday's final stage.

Sky sporting director Brett Lancaster said: "It was a tough stage and very cold – but we rode on the front pretty much the whole day to keep our leaders out of trouble.

"Danny was a little bit disappointed he couldn't quite finish it off at the end but he gave it his best shot.

"We'll get back out there and do it all again – and hopefully it'll be a bit warmer. That's a shorter stage and definitely another one for the sprinters. The emphasis for us is Sunday, though, where the race will be decided."