Alexander Kirstoff (Katusha-Alpecin) won stage 2 of the Three Days of De Panne after a hard-fought day in the echelons split the peloton and allowed Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) to tighten his grip on the overall classification.
Kristoff has not been at his best recently but he is always ready for a fight. He made sure he was in the split of 22 riders and then kicked late into the headwind finish to beat Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) and Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo). Pascal Ackerman (Bora-hansgrohe) – second at the 2016 Under 23 world championships in Qatar, impressed by finishing fourth and mixing it in the sprint with Kristoff and Kittel.
Gilbert – wearing the race leader’s white jersey – was again strong in the echelons during the final 50km and then worked hard, doing frequent turns on the front to ensure that Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott) failed to get across to the move. Durbridge eventually finished in the main peloton 2:40 back, gutted at missing out on a chance of overall success.
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After 211km of racing, only Gilbert and Kristoff were smiling.
"There was a lot of wind and I was maybe a little too far back in the last corner. So I started my sprint seated to move up and speed up. I kind of lead myself out and then increased my sprint. I knew that from the radio it was better to stay on the wheels but I didn’t want to get boxed in. I just kept the other guys behind me," Kristoff explained, playing down his chances for the Tour of Flanders.
"I don’t honestly see myself as one of the favourites for the Tour of Flanders this year. If you look at the results in the hardest races, I lacked a bit of shape. But I got the win here and this gives you confidence, but today is still different to Flanders. I fear my top form will come too late and there are a lot of strong favourites like Gilbert, Van Avermaet and Sagan. It will be difficult to beat these guys, but I hope to be up there, fighting with them."
Another hard day of racing
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