Petacchi made a victorious return after his drugs ban

Italian Alessandro Petacchi took the yellow jersey after storming through a sprint finish on the opening stage of the Tour of Britain in London.

Petacchi, just back from a 12-month drug ban, finished ahead of Britain's Rob Hayles on the 53-mile stage.

Petacchi struck after team-mate Danilo di Luca failed in his bid to launch a solo late breakaway.

Britain's Olympic double gold medallist Bradley Wiggins finished in the peloton, along with Geraint Thomas.

They were among several British Olympians who completed the 10 laps in the capital, the 8.6km circuit taking in a number of major landmarks and including a small climb at Tower Hill.

Di Luca was part of a eight-man group, including Britain's Kristian House and Tom Southam, that led for much of the race but they could not build their advantage to more than 46 seconds.

As the group reeled them in, Di Luca went on his own but was brought back after a single lap to set up a bunch sprint along the Victoria Embankment, with the Houses of Parliament ahead of them.

House took the King of the Mountains jersey after the stage while Anders Lund won one of the two sprints and leads the white-jersey competition going into stage two.

606: DEBATE Discuss the Tour of Britain on 606

Hayles, who was angered when he was dropped from the British team for the Olympics, will wear the green jersey as he is second in the points competition behind Petacchi.

"I'm really happy with the race. I felt like I rode really well and I felt really good," said Hayles, who claimed silver alongside Wiggins, Steve Cummings and Paul Manning at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

"It was a tough race and there was a hugely talented group of riders out there.

"I feel very disappointed, I would have loved to get a victory for the home crowd but at the same time you've got to hold your hands up to riders like Petacchi.

"I don't mind getting beaten by riders like him because he's a fantastic rider. I'm really happy because it's the first sprint finish I've had like that this year so to come through it and get a second place finish was fantastic."

The Tour of Britain is Petacchi's first race since his ban for the excessive use of the asthma drug Salbutamol ended on 31 August.

The 34-year-old sprinting great was deemed not to have used the drug to gain a competitive advantage, but was suspended for a year because he was well over the permitted limit.

Last year's winner Romain Feillu is 15th in the general classification as the tour moves to Milton Keynes on Monday for the second stage.

General Classification after stage 1:

1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) LPR Brakes, 1hr 51mins 44secs

2 Rob Hayles (GB) Great Britain, at 0.04secs

3 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld, same time

4 Anders Lund (Den) Team CSC-Saxo Bank, same time

5 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Team Garmin-Chipotle, at 0.06

6 Danilo di Luca (Ita) LPR Brakes, at 0.09

7 Dean Downing (GB) Rapha-Condor, at 0.10

8 Rahsaan Bahati (US) Rock Racing, same time

9 Roger Hammond (GB) Team Columbia, same time

10 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen, same time

Selected others:

13 Jonathan Bellis (GB) Team CSC-Saxo Bank, same time

19 Ian Stannard (GB) Great Britain, same time

25 Ben Swift (GB) Great Britain, same time

45 Geraint Thomas (GB) Barloworld, same time

50 David Millar (GB) Team Garmin-Chipotle same time

58 Tom Southam (GB) Great Britain, same time

61 Kristian House (GB) Rapha-Condor same time

71 Steve Cummings (GB) Barloworld, same time

75 Chris Newton (GB) Rapha-Condor, same time

91 Bradley Wiggins (GB) Team Columbia, same time