Vermote victorious at Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen

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Arnaud Demare (FDF-Big Mat), runner-up on the previous stage, went one place better on the final day of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen as he sprinted to victory in Ichtegem. The 20-year-old Frenchman, the reigning U23 world road champion, outkicked Alexander Porsev (Katusha Team) and Kenny Robert Van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) on a taxing day featuring steady rain, cold weather and numerous cobbled climbs.

Runner-up Alexander Porsev suffered an untimely flat with only 10 kilometres remaining, but managed to return to the field and nearly take the win. "I'm very happy about today's podium, it was really a hard stage," said Porsev. "I could have won, but in the end I was unlucky. I spent a lot of energy to close the gap to the main group so I was a little tired for the final sprint. Nevertheless, I almost managed to win, but Demare passed me in the last few metres. It's a bit frustrating, but I'm definitely satisfied."

The miserable conditions, coupled with the narrow Belgian roads, were ingredients for plenty of crashes on the day, one of which, at approximately 50km remaining in the 186.5km stage, forced overnight race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) to abandon. The Belgian ProTour squad showed its depth, however, as second-year professional Julien Vermote shifted his role from domestique for Kwiatkowski to yellow jersey on the road after his Polish teammate crashed out.

The 22-year-old Belgian started the stage in second overall, four seconds off the lead held by Kwiatkowski, and finished in the front group to secure overall victory on a hectic day of racing. Defending champion Jesse Sergent finished second overall, six seconds back, with Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha Team) completing the final general classification podium at nine seconds.

It was an unexpected victory for Vermote, the Belgian's first as a professional.

"I really didn’t expect to win the race," Vermote said. "I’m really sad for Michal [Kwiatkowski], he didn’t win only because of bad luck. But we are a fantastic team here. Everybody sacrifice themself for the team result.

"It was really a terrible day due to the weather conditions. When the group broke into two parts I remained behind with Michal. When I realized that Michal could lose the race I put him in my wheel and we made a terrific effort to come back. We went really fast.

Disaster struck, however, as Vermote and Kwiatkowski were about to bridge across to the front group. "When we were really nearly to close the gap, Michal crashed in a roundabout. At that point I had no choice and I went alone," said Vermote.

"On the road I found Francesco Chicchi and Matthew Brammeier who helped me to complete the chase. Then the guys were super. Guillaume and Andy Fenn worked hard controlling the race and in the last part of the race, Matteo Trentin controlled everything. He was super strong."

A hard day in the saddle

The final day of racing at Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen would be the longest stage, at 186.5km, from Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem. After a 75km opening stretch along the North Sea, the route turned inland where the peloton would tackle five climbs: the Goeberg, Zwarte Berg, Rodeberg, Monteberg and the legendary Kemmelberg.

The peloton would arrive in Ichtegem after 153km of racing where they then faced three laps of an 11km finishing circuit. The circuit provided a sting in the tail as each lap the riders would tackle the Keiberg, a sector of pave and then the Ruidenberg, which tops out at 5km to go.

Mother Nature would provide an added factor in steady rain and cold weather for the final stage to test the riders' fortitude and bike-handling skills.

For much of the stage seven riders were on the attack and pushed their lead out over four minutes. The break included David Boucher (FDJ-Big Mat), Aitor Galdos (Caja Rural), Julien Bérard (AG2R La Mondiale), Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Christopher Juul Jensen (Saxo Bank), Baptiste Planckaert (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) and Andy Cappelle (Accent Jobs - Willems Véranda's).

Approaching the finishing circuits, with the break's lead cut to less than 30 seconds, the pursuing peloton split into several groups. Ten riders managed to bridge to the seven-man break to form a 17-rider lead group. The riders able to bridge to the break included Mathieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, Mattéo Trentin and Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma - Quickstep), Robert Wagner (RadioShack-Nissan), Tyler Farrar, Jack Bauer and Michel Kreder (Garmin-Barracuda) plus Luke Rowe and Ben Swift (Team Sky).

Race leader Michal Kwiatkowski's yellow jersey was in jeopardy, as several riders close to him on general classification had made the front group. Wagner started the day in third place, nine seconds back, while Bauer and Farrar were 14 and 15 seconds behind respectively.

Omega Pharma-Quickstep still had cards to play as Van Keirsbulck started the stage in fifth overall, 10 seconds behind his teammate overall and just one second behind Wagner, the best-placed rider on general classification in the lead group. Additionally Van Keirsbulck had teammates Mattéo Trentin and Andrew Fenn for assistance which proved invaluable at the day's final intermediate sprint. Fenn and Van Keirsbulck finished 1-2 respectively, and the two-second bonus by Van Keirsbulck moved him one second in front of Wagner to become the new virtual leader on the road.

Meanwhile, Omega Pharma-Quickstep's Vermote was attempting to bridge across to the leaders with teammate Kwiatkowski in tow, but Kwiatkowski crashed heavily and would be unable to continue.

Despite the best efforts of the lead group to stay away, a general re-grouping occurred on the penultimate finishing circuit with 20km remaining. Omega Pharma-Quickstep controlled the peloton for Vermote and kept the bunch together through to the sprint finale, taken by an on-form Arnaud Demare.