Sylvain Chavanel crushed the opposition on the final time trial in the Driedaagse van de Panne to repeat his performance from last year with a stage and overall win. Even though he enjoys the victory, his focus is alreay firmly directed towards Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

Sylvain Chavanel's victory in the Driedaagse van de Panne was the result of a focused, efficient and strong effort throughout the three days of racing. While also working for teammate Mark Cavendish' sprint opportunities, the Frenchman was a constant presence near the front of the pack throughout the opening three road stages.

He made sure to enter all the key moves on the hilly first stage and impressed most when he easily closed the gap to an accelerating Peter Sagan (Cannondale) on the Eikenmolen. He was the sole Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider to enter the front group when the peloton briefly split into two big portions in the crosswinds on the second day. Finally, he finished the job with a very impressive performance in today's time trial.

With two victories, it is no surprise that the short stage race is dear to the Frenchman's heart. However, he is already focused on the first of his biggest two spring objectives: the Tour of Flanders.

"I like to race, it doesn't matter which race," He explained. "However, I like this race a lot. Now I have 48 hours to recover after this double victory and be ready for the race on Sunday. Last year I had a few little problems with my health during Paris-Nice. This year everything went good and normal so far. I'm in good condition. My objective is to maintain this form until Paris-Roubaix."

Despite his dominance during the last three days of racing, the runner-up in the 2011 edition of De Ronde refuses to see himself as a favourite. He points to Sagan and Cancellara as the major rivals and sees the collective strength of his team and their vast experience as their key attributes on Sunday.

"As for the Ronde, I'm not one of the favorites," he said. "Sagan is strong and the same goes for Cancellara, but we have a strong, united team. We are experienced in these kind of races and also with great specialists such as Tom (Boonen, ed.) and Niki (Terpstra, ed.). The strategy will also be important. Maybe there are also a few underdogs for the race on Sunday that can surprise everyone. We will do our best as a team and we will see!"

Chavanel's stage and overall victory was just part of an dominant performance by his team in the Belgian stage race. Niki Terpstra was 3rd overall, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck 9th and Cavendish 10th, and the team won the teams classification. Furthermore, Cavendish won yesterday's second stage in what was just another display of the strength of the Belgian team in the special art of Flemish racing.