Marcel Kittel (QuickStep Floors) came back from a late crash to win stage 3a of the Three Day of De Panne.
The German sprinter fell with 15km to go but was paced back to the peloton just in time to contest the finale. In a chaotic leadout Kittel eventually managed to position himself on Alexander Kristoff's wheel, before coming around the Norwegian inside the final 100 metres. Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) finished third.
The short but intense morning stage saw a number of crashes and a nine-man break that remained clear until the final 2.5km.
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Coming around the final corner Kristoff looked ideally positioned after his team had controlled the final hour of racing. However Kittel's crash meant that the Norwegian's team had little cooperation in chasing the break, and the stage 2 winner was left isolated when Kittel - full of adrenaline after his crash - swooped up onto his wheel. With the line insight Kristoff opened his sprint first but Kittel around the Katusha rider's right hand side.
Heading into the afternoon's individual time trial, Kittel's teammate, Philippe Gilbert holds the leader's jersey, 50 seconds ahead of Matthias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo).
"This is an important race for me, and from the Belgian races, I'm only doing De Panne and Scheldeprijs. After yesterday and the first stage, where I did a good race but didn't get a result, I really wanted to bounce back and show myself here," Kittel said after the finish.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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