Marcel Kittel and Giant-Shimano had hoped to leave the Driedaagse van De Panne with a few sprint wins but for the second day in a row, the German failed in a sprint finish on today's opening half-stage. In the hectic run-in to the final turn, things got too messy for the fast finisher who never got the chance to sprint and rolled across the line in 51st.

Marcel Kittel and Team Giant-Shimano were caught out and left empty handed at the end of the morning stage 3a of De Panne after having set the sprint up in the closing kilometres.

Kittel was looking to make amends for yesterday’s disappointment in the 109.7km morning stage of the final day, with the final individual time trial to come this afternoon. In the final two kilometres Kittel got caught out and swamped and struggled to make his way back to the front of the peloton as riders bounced off each other and crashes started to occur.

The team had controlled the stage behind five escapees and after bringing them back into the fold they picked up the pace in the lead out for the final corner which proved decisive. In the last 400m, the peloton had to negotiate a tight right hander bringing them into the finish straight and it in the run up to this corner that Marcel and the team got swamped and lost position.

The final chance to shine here in De Panne is this afternoon’s 14.3km individual time trial.

Team Giant-Shimano coach, Aike Visbeek said after the stage:

“It was a pretty normal stage today until the finish where things got pretty hectic.

“There was a crash in the final few kilometres which pushed Marcel out of position and he couldn’t make it back before the pinch point on the final corner.

“It’s a shame as the guys worked hard for it today and rode really well but the final was a tricky one. Now it’s 100% focus on the time trial and full gas for that.”