Three Days of De Panne 2016 – Stage 3b [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

March 31, 2016

Three Days of De Panne 2016 – [Stage 3b] – De Panne – De Panne (ITT) – 14,2 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.

Lieuwe Westra (Astana) snatched overall victory from Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) at the Three Days of De Panne thanks to gaining vital seconds in the final 14.2km stage in De Panne.

Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff) won the time trial in a time 17:39.29, beating Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Ton Bohli (BMC) by less than a second.

The fight for overall victory was also a nail-biting affair, with technique and speed playing a huge factor in the time trial that twisted through the De Panne streets but also included a long section along the exposed sea front.

Westra finished fourth in a time of 17:42. Kristoff was 28 seconds slower and so slipped to second overall, 13 down on Westra. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) finished third overall at 16 seconds.

Westra seemed relieved to have won the overall classification after he and Lutsenko failed to win stage 1 when they out-numbered Kristoff two riders to one.

“It feels great to win. I’ve been second a few times and I didn’t want to be second again today,” Westra said, before pulling on the winner’s white jersey and collecting a massive bottle of beer.

“Fortunately I had good legs and also during the three days of racing I had a very strong team behind me. They did a lot of work for me and so I have to thank them if I’ve been able to take the victory this time. I knew that the time trial would decide everything. I didn’t feel great but the time was fast and that’s what counts. It’s great to win De Panne. It’s a great race, an important race. I’m happy to win it.”

How it happened

A total of 107 riders started the final time trial stage, with a dozen opting to end their race early and begin to recover for Sunday’s Tour of Flanders or races elsewhere.

The 14.2km course was for real time trial specialists and they set the fastest times early on, while most other riders rode conservatively. Later the race became a fight for places in the top ten as well as overall victory.

Johan Le Bon (FDJ) did another good time trial after finishing second in the Tirreno-Adriatico final TT in San Benedetto del Tronto. He was fifth fastest and so finished tenth overall. Australia’s Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) used his skills to finish tenth, 31 seconds slower than Bodnar but did enough to finish sixth overall. French veteran Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) may now be 36 but he was strong again, finishing sixth on the stage and so fifth overall.

The surprise performance of the day came from 22-year-old Tom Bohli of BMC, who beat all those experienced time trial experts to finish third on the stage, just a few hundreds of a second from victory. He began with BMC last summer as a stagiaire rider but has already shown his time trialing prowess by winning the prologue time trial at Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen in early March.

Maciej Bodnar set a faster time than Bohli but then spent a nervous time in the hot seat, waiting for the other riders to finish. He only began to celebrate when Tony Martin failed to beat his time.

“I’ve lost to Tony Martin by a second in the past and so it’s a pleasure to beat him this time, also because he’s a great rider and former world time trial champion,” Bodnar said.

“I didn’t ride last year but I won two years ago. It’s good to win again and winning like that is extra special.”

Results :

1 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff Team 0:17:39
2 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step
3 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
4 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:03
5 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ 0:00:19
6 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:22
7 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:24
8 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha 0:00:28
9 Stefan Kueng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:29
10 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:31
11 Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon 18 0:00:38
12 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:40
13 Nils Politt (Ger) Team Katusha 0:00:42
14 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:43
15 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling 0:00:44
16 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:47
17 Mads Pedersen (Den) Stölting Service Group 0:00:49
18 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:50
19 Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
20 Jack Bauer (NZl) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:52

Final general classification :

1 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 12:08:19
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha 0:00:13
3 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:16
4 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:35
5 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:59
6 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:01:04
7 Stefan Kueng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:01:06
8 Mads Pedersen (Den) Stölting Service Group 0:01:19
9 Nils Politt (Ger) Team Katusha
10 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
11 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:27
12 Berden De Vries (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton
13 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:01:34
14 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:01:38
15 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Stölting Service Group 0:01:40
16 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:01:42
17 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:01:43
18 Michael Morkov (Den) Team Katusha 0:01:49
19 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:01:52
20 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff Team 0:01:53
21 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:01:58
22 Florian Senechal (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:02
23 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:02:22
24 Loic Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:02:25
25 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Lotto Soudal 0:02:26
26 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:02:35
27 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:02:38
28 Amaury Capiot (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:02:56
29 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:03:20
30 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
31 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:03:41
32 Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon 18 0:04:20
33 Ryan Anderson (Can) Direct Energie 0:04:47
34 Gert Joeaar (Est) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:04:52
35 Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:04:57
36 Hayden McCormick (NZl) ONE Pro Cycling 0:05:04
37 Mirco Maestri (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:05:12
38 Stijn Steels (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:05:14
39 Sander Helven (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:05:19
40 Maxime Farazijn (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 0:05:28
41 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:38
42 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Lampre – Merida 0:05:48
43 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Argon 18 0:05:57
44 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Bora-Argon 18 0:06:04
45 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:06:06
46 Jack Bauer (NZl) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:06:07
47 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:06:24
48 Kristian House (GBr) ONE Pro Cycling 0:06:27
49 Ivar Slik (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:06:52
50 Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:07:14
51 Marc Sarreau (Fra) FDJ 0:07:25
52 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rom) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:07:50
53 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:07:56
54 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) FDJ 0:08:05
55 André Looij (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:08:07
56 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:13
57 Andrei Solomennikov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:08:20
58 Michael Reihs (Den) Stölting Service Group 0:08:41
59 Federico Zurlo (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:08:42
60 Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Ned) Roompot – Oranje Peloton 0:08:53
61 Ralf Matzka (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:09:36
62 Kenneth Van Bilsen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:10:31
63 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:10:58
64 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:11:29
65 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:12:05
66 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:12:47
67 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Team 0:14:20
68 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Tinkoff Team 0:14:23
69 Marcin Bialoblocki (Pol) ONE Pro Cycling 0:14:25
70 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:14:28
71 Ivan Savitskiy (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:14:49
72 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:15:26
73 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-GreenEdge 0:15:33
74 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team
75 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:15:37
76 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:15:43
77 Erik Baska (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:15:50
78 Michal Kolár (Svk) Tinkoff Team 0:15:55
79 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:15:59
80 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie 0:16:15
81 Paolo Simion (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:16:29
82 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Direct Energie 0:16:33
83 Jonas Tenbrock (Ger) Stölting Service Group 0:16:35
84 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky 0:16:48
85 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:16:54
86 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:16:57
87 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:17:02
88 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ 0:17:13
89 Alessandro Tonelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:17:23
90 Marko Kump (Slo) Lampre – Merida 0:17:37
91 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Argon 18 0:17:38
92 Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:17:39
93 Michael Carbel Svendgaard (Den) Stölting Service Group 0:17:45
94 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:18:42
95 Giuseppe Fonzi (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:18:52
96 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie 0:18:59
97 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-GreenEdge 0:21:28
98 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) FDJ 0:24:46
99 Sergey Nikolaev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:26:06
100 Viktor Manakov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:27:56
101 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bora-Argon 18 0:28:11
102 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Stölting Service Group 0:28:59
103 Mamyr Stash (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:29:25
104 Yuma Koishi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:29:39
105 Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:30:00
106 Antonio Viola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:30:38
107 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:31:22