De Bie wins Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen

Second place on the final stage of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen was enough for Sean De Bie to claim overall victory, seven seconds ahead of Etixx-Quick Step's Lukasz Wisniowsk. Timothy Dupont (Veranda's Willems) got the better of De Bie in the sprint for stage honours from a small group that also contained Wisniowski, Nils Politt (Katusha), Xandro Meurisse (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) and Olivier Pardini (Wallonie Bruxelles).

The Lotto Soudal rider praised the efforts of his team in setting up the overall victory, highlighting the efforts of Tosh Van Der Sande.

"Our team raced at the front all day long. On the cobblestones in Diksmuide, at about fifty kilometres from the end, we raised the pace," De Bie said of the stage. "The wind had made the race hard right from the beginning, after one hundred kilometres everybody was tired and when we set a higher pace the peloton split again. With four teammates we were part of a new front group of twenty.

"When entering the local circuit, with about forty kilometres to go, there was a rush. Tosh and I sprinted for the bonus seconds and then immediately forced a new selection. The new break had the perfect composition, with riders who were interested in GC and others who were keen on winning the stage."

Having started the race as overall race leader, BMC's Tom Bohli slipped to eighth place on GC having missed the winning breakaway which formed early in the stage as rain fell heavily in Nieuwpoort. Aggressive racing from Van der Sande and De Bie in mopping up the bonus seconds on offer ensured Wisniowski would be the only rider capable of taking the win away from the young Belgian with Bohli back in the peloton.

Lotto Soudal finished the race with overall victory via De Bie, who also claimed the points and young rider classifications, and the team classification. 

Full Results