Description
March 30, 2016
Three Days of De Panne 2016 – [Stage 2] – Zottegem – Koksijde – 211,1 km
The Three Days of De Panne (Dutch: KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde) is a mid-week,
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March 30, 2016
Three Days of De Panne 2016 – [Stage 2] – Zottegem – Koksijde – 211,1 km
The Three Days of De Panne (Dutch: KBC Driedaagse van De Panne-Koksijde) is a mid-week, three-day stage race before the Tour of Flanders in De Panne in West Flanders, Belgium. It is rated 2.HC by the UCI and is part of the UCI Europe Tour.
Elia Viviani (Team Sky) stunned Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) on stage 2 of the Three Days of De Panne, latching onto the German’s lead-out train before passing him in the final 50 metres to take the win.
The 211-kilometre stage culminated in three local laps in coastal Koksijde, the last of which was fast and furious as Etixx, Sky, and Lotto Soudal all battled for position ahead of the sprint. Viviani was forced to freelance and chose the perfect wheel before showing impressive speed in the closing metres to beat Kittel. Stage 1 winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) came through for third and retained his overall lead.
Viviani watched the replay of the sprint as he changed for the podium ceremony and a smile spread across his face as he saw how he came past Kittel in the closing metres.
“My teammates helped me a lot today to get on the right wheel today. I got Kittel’s wheel on the last corner,” he explained. “I knew they had a super strong lead out train for him but I also knew that there was a head wind, so I waited for the right moment to go.”
The victory is an important one for Viviani, who was unable to defend his Omnium world title on the track earlier in the month, and whose focus is back on the road ahead of the Giro d’Italia. The 27-year-old had just enough time to raise an arm in celebration as he crossed the line, but he soon sat up and clenched both fists, his grimace revealing how much the win meant to him.
“I’m really happy because it comes after a difficult moment for me. I didn’t get the results I’d hoped for on the track and so it’s good to win today,” he said.
“I’ve raced a lot this season and done the track, so I’m right at the end of a big block now. I’ll take a break after Paris-Roubaix and then start thinking of the Giro d’Italia. It’s a very, very important goal for me.”
How it happened
With crashes, cobbles, crosswinds, and rain, most of the hallmarks of this idiosyncratic race were on display, and there were even fisticuffs as a Katusha rider landed a light punch on a Direct Energie rider.
No injuries were sustained in that spat but that wasn’t the case for some of the crashes, the worst of which saw Bardiani-CSF’s Nicola Boem lifted into an ambulance in a neck brace. Kenneth van Bilsen hit the deck on a cobbled stretch of road with 58km to go, causing a pile-up that sent Jack Bauer into one ditch and a Gazprom-RusVelo rider into the other. Boem hit his face and was put in the brace for precaution before being taken for tests.
The stage, which took riders from Zottegem towards the French border and then north towards the coast, featured five climbs, including the Kemmelberg, packed into a 20km section just after the half-way mark.
The break of the day, made up of Pim Ligthart (Lotto Soudal), Julien Morice (Direct Energie), Alessendro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF), Gianfranco Zilioli (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Ivar Slik (Roompot), Jonas Tenbrock (Stölting Service Group), Bert Van Lerberghe (Topsport) and Mamyr Stash (Gazprom-RusVelo), once had over 7 minutes but soon saw their lead start to drop.
Stash was the first to go, before Ligthart, Slik, and Van Lerberghe went clear and collaborated all the way to Koksijde where Lightart went solo before giving up the game with 15km to go.
By that point the pace in the bunch was high, though it was a bunch that had been reduced by the climbs and also by the subsequent crosswinds. Team Sky set the pace inside the final 10km while Etixx gathered with strength in numbers and Lotto also came to the fore for Greipel.
It was Etixx who dominated inside the final few kilometres, and it looked certain that Kittel would be delivered safely to the line, but Viviani had other ideas, and employed a mix of positioning, timing, and raw speed, to make it happen.
Results :
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
2 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha
4 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
5 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
6 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
7 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF
8 Marc Sarreau (Fra) FDJ
9 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff Team
10 Ivan Savitskiy (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
11 Marko Kump (Slo) Lampre – Merida
12 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rom) Nippo – Vini Fantini
General Classification after Stage 2 :
2 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:05
3 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:10
4 Mads Pedersen (Den) Stölting Service Group 0:00:43
5 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:00:45
6 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:46
7 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:00:48
8 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step
9 Michael Morkov (Den) Team Katusha 0:00:49
10 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:00:50
11 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Stölting Service Group
12 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
13 Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
14 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
15 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
16 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
17 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
18 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team
19 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Bora-Argon 18
20 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie
21 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Team
22 Stefan Kueng (Swi) BMC Racing Team
23 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
24 Nils Politt (Ger) Team Katusha
25 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
26 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
27 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:01:04
28 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:01:09
29 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:01:13
30 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:01:15
31 Michel Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
32 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
33 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
34 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Team Katusha
35 Marco Haller (Aut) Team Katusha 0:01:21
36 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:01:58
37 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky 0:02:21
38 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:03:36
39 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
40 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
41 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-GreenEdge
42 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Argon 18
43 Hayden McCormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling
44 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Bardiani CSF
45 Stijn Steels (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
46 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
47 Kristian House (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling
48 Sander Helven (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
49 Ryan Anderson (Can) Direct Energie
50 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Lampre – Merida
51 Gert Joeaar (Est) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:51
52 Ivar Slik (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:03:53
53 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:03:54
54 Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon 18 0:03:55
55 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:04:01
56 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha
57 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
58 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Bora-Argon 18 0:04:17
59 Jack Bauer (NZl) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:05:28
60 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:05:47
61 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky 0:05:53
62 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rom) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:06:15
63 Marc Sarreau (Fra) FDJ
64 André Looij (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
65 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Team Katusha
66 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) FDJ
67 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge
68 Michael Reihs (Den) Stölting Service Group
69 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:06:30
70 Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:06:34
71 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:06:40
72 Federico Zurlo (Ita) Lampre – Merida
73 Ralf Matzka (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:06:56
74 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:06:59
75 Kenneth Van Bilsen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:07:12
76 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
77 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:08:13
78 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:10:31
79 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:10:37
80 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:11:02
81 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:11:44
82 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie 0:12:07
83 Ivan Savitskiy (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:13:29
84 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-GreenEdge
85 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Team
86 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:13:54
87 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling
88 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:14:26
89 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:14:28
90 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:14:36
91 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff Team
92 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
93 Marko Kump (Slo) Lampre – Merida
94 Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
95 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
96 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team
97 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
98 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie
99 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff Team
100 Michal Kolár (Svk) Tinkoff Team
101 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie
102 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
103 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:14:43
104 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:14:47
105 Jonas Tenbrock (Ger) Stölting Service Group 0:14:55
106 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:15:01
107 Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela
108 Michael Carbel Svendgaard (Den) Stölting Service Group
109 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie 0:15:24
110 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:15:33
111 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ
112 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky 0:15:37
113 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Argon 18 0:15:48
114 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Team Katusha 0:18:20
115 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-GreenEdge 0:19:13
116 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-GreenEdge
117 Sergey Nikolaev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:23:50
118 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ
119 Viktor Manakov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:26:42
120 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bora-Argon 18
121 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:27:49
122 Mamyr Stash (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
123 Antonio Viola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
124 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Stölting Service Group
125 Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
126 Yuma Koishi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
