His team clocked up a time of 21.50 for the 20.5km stage and with Cavendish the team number one, he leads the General Classification going into tomorrow's second stage.
Garmin Slipstream which contains Brit Bradley Wiggins were six seconds back with Lance Armstrong's Astanta some thirteen seconds behind Colombia.
"I wear the maglia rosa for the whole team tomorrow," said Cavendish to www.cyclingnews.com.
"The next few days will be sprints, which will suit me and the team. Obviously, the pressure's off because of today, but we'll try for more wins. I've got no problems wearing this shirt, so I'll keep going as long as I can."
Other Brits in the race are Ian Stannard, Jeremy Hunt, Daniel Lloyd, Ben Swift and David Millar.