Lukas Postlberger unexpectedly wins the opening stage of the 100th Giro d'Italia to cap perfect debut

Postlberger pushed on to take his first WorldTour victory and the famous pink jersey in Olbia

Lukas Postlberger of team Bora celebrates getting his hands on the Pink Jersey (Getty)

Lukas Postlberger upset the odds to take victory on the opening stage of the 100th Giro d'Italia in Olbia.

A bunch sprint had been expected at the end of the 206 kilometre stage from Alghero and Postlberger went to the front of the peloton with two kilometres left to start the lead-out for his Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Sam Bennett of Ireland.

But he saw a gap open up behind him and pushed on to take his first WorldTour victory - and the famous pink jersey - much to the Austrian's own disbelief.

Behind, big-name sprinters Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) and Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) were left to settle for second and third respectively, while Bennett was 10th.

It was Postlberger's first WorldTour victory (Getty)

Coupled with the climber's blue jersey for his team-mate Cesare Benedetti, part of the day's breakaway, it was a glorious day for Bora-Hansgrohe, who hold all four jerseys at the end of the first stage.

Overall contenders Nairo Quintana of Movistar and Geraint Thomas of Team Sky finished safely in the pack despite the disruption caused by a late crash, which was just outside the 3km cut-off point which guarantees riders will not lose time because of an incident.