Driedaagse De Panne: Gilbert takes the overall victory

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Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) secured overall victory at the Three Days of De Panne thanks to taking seventh place in the final 14.2km time trial.

Gilbert dominated the opening road stage on the cobbled Flemish climbs and his strong team helped him in the echelons on stage 2. He started the final time trial with a lead of 50 seconds but rode as promised at 'full gas' to set a time of 17:55. That meant he won the three-day stage race by 38 seconds, beating Matthias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin), who finished third at 43 seconds.

Australia's Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott) won the flat and fast time trial around the sand dunes and seafront in De Panne as spectators enjoyed the early spring sun instead of the frequent wind and rain.

Durbridge set a time of 17:38, with Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) a close second at just 0.77 of a second. Kristoff used his speed and power to finish third, while Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors), who won the morning road stage after a late puncture, performed well in the afternoon time trial by finishing fourth. 

Durbridge seemed set to challenge Gilbert for overall victory after riding well on stage 1 and finishing second behind Gilbert. However, he missed the important split on stage 2 and lost 2:39. His strong time trial lifted him to 11th in the final overall classification.

"It's been a while since I had a victory. I can't even remember when, so it's special,” he said, despite knowing it had been close with Chavanel.

"A win is a win and so I'm pretty happy. I think it's one of the hardest time trials I've done here because we usually have a big roaring tail wind on the way home. But this time it was slog. I died a thousand deaths on the way home but I managed to hang on to it."

Durbridge has shown some strong form in the cobbled Classics and will lead the Orica-Scott team in Sunday's Tour of Flanders. The Belgian Classic is the only monument that Orica-Scott has still to win.

"I'm looking forward to Sunday and this is a boost for my confidence," he said.

"My parents are coming from Australia and it'll be the first time they've ever seen me race in Europe. So it's a big motivation for me. This victory tops off a good week. I was a bit unlucky to miss out on GC but that's racing. I'm looking forward to Sunday and then the Sunday after (Paris-Roubaix)."

Gilbert: I'm pretty sure you can race every Sunday until Liege

Gilbert is also looking forward to the Tour of Flanders. The presence of Greg Van Avermaet at BMC meant he as often pushed towards the Ardennes Classics, but after joining Quick-Step Floors for 2017 he will have protected status in the Belgian team and the responsibility to beat Van Avermaet and Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe).

"The important thing is that my condition is good because if you still have to search for your condition, it's too late," Gilbert said as he celebrated his victory and his thoughts turned to Sunday and the rest of the spring Classics, including perhaps, Paris-Roubaix.

"We'll see. I've got Sunday first and then we'll decide. Guys like Valverde are already flying so we'll see about the Ardennes too," he said.

"It's not a secret, I joined this team for this reason, because they have experience for these races. I'm pretty sure you can race every Sunday until Liege, I don't think it's a problem."

Gilbert shared his first success at Quick-Step Floors with his teammates.

"It took me while to get my first win but they believed in me and when you have teammates working for you, it's a great pleasure to pay them back," he said.

"I feel good and I felt confident in the team here. I've got to thank them for the work they've done for me during this race. They helped me keep my focus when I needed and I'm delighted to share this win with them."

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