The organizers of the Three Days of De Panne-Koksijde refuse to give up. They refuse to give up their date in the week before the Tour of Flanders.

It is an open secret that race organizer Flanders Classics wants to move Dwars door Vlaanderen to the Wednedsday before the Tour of Flanders in 2018. That angers the organizers of the Three Days of De Panne-Koksijde.

"We have had our race in the week before the Tour of Flanders for more than 40 years and we want to keep it that way for a long time," they tell Sporza. "A date change cannot be imposed unilaterally by one party.

"We also seek for a Flemish anchoring in the cycling spring but not at the expense of our stage race. Nobody has asked us and there is certainly no agreement with Flanders Classics.

"We also want to organize our three-day stage race before the Tour of Flanders in 2018, to the regret of Flanders Classics."