"Sky, Orica, Lampre and FDJ all had some interest in working, but not enough to catch the breakaway."

Those were the words of Astana's Dmitriy Gruzdev after stage one at 3 Daagse De Panne-Koksijde. Gruzdev, Alexey Lutsenko and Lars Boom all finished together, 34 seconds behind stage winner Alexander Kristoff of Norway on a bright but extremely windy day in Belgium.

Teammate Laurens De Vreese tried early to join a breakaway, escaping solo from the peloton but remained 8 seconds behind the group of four riders, alone, in winds that reached speeds of 60km per hour.

Gruzdev recovered fully from a crash on Sunday when his bicycle fell into an irrigation canal during the one-day classic Gent Wevelgem.