Kristoff strikes again at Driedaagse de Panne

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Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) took his third sprint win and strengthened his overall lead in the morning road race at the Three Days of De Panne in a very close sprint with Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal).

The Norwegian duelled with Andrea Guardini (Astana) before accelerating to the line but Greipel was on his wheel and had the acceleration to come up along side him. Both riders threw their bikes at the line and seemed to hit the line at the same time. However the race officials ruled that Kristoff won the stage. Greipel was second, with Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) third and Guardini fourth.

The official finish photo revealed that Kristoff won by a margin of 3/10000 of a second or just five millimetres.

“I think I’ve never experienced such a close win. A draw would be a nice result too. For me we could have been both on the podium, we both deserve it, though I am happy with this verdict too, of course,” Kristoff said after becoming the first rider to ever win three stages in the same edition of the Three Days of De Panne.

“I started my sprint a bit from too far, just like I did in Milano-Sanremo. There was more head wind than I expected. Greipel was in my wheel and he almost came around me. I had of course the experience with this short morning stage, it is my fifth Three Days of De Panne-Koksijde and I’ve won this morning stage already two times before. We were dead even at the finish.”

Thanks to the stage winner’s time bonus, Kristoff now leads overall by 22 seconds. The final overall classification will be decided in the afternoon 14.2km time trial around De Panne.

“Three in a row is unique but I don’t think I will make four in a row,” Kristoff admitted. “There are better time trial specialists here than me. I need to go full gas to loose as less seconds as possible and to finish as high as possible in the overall classification. In theory I can lose a lot in 14 kilometres. With a top three and on the final podium I’d be happy.”

Stijn Devolder (Trek Factory Racing) is second overall and the big favourite for overall victory. He won the race in 2005 and has shown some good form in recent weeks. However Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) should not be overlooked. The Dane is third overall at 23 seconds and can also time trial pretty well.

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