After a number of strong performances, the first African professional continental team MTN - Qhubeka secured its first victory with a bunch sprint victory for its captain Gerald Ciolek in the second and final stage of the Driedaagse Van West-Vlaanderen. Kristof Vandewalle OmegaPharma-QuickStep finished safely in the bunch to secure the overall win.

After having won the bunch sprint behind strong breakaways in both Trofeo Laigueglia and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Gerald Ciolek finally secured the first victory for his new team in today's second and final stage of the Driedaagse Van West-Vlaanderen. He held off Adrien Petit (Cofidis) and Bobbie Traksel (Champion System) in the bunch sprint after a hard and aggressive race by the dominant OmegaPharma-QuickStep team.

The stage was the race's queens stage and consisted of 181,8 km from Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem with passages of Monteberg and Kemmelberg in classical Gent-Wevelgem terrain. A finishing circuit with two additional climbs and a stretch of cobblestones suggested a hard race with a final battle between opportunists and the sprinters' teams.

After a number of early attacks, Sander Cordeel (Lotto-Belisol), Edwig Cammaerts (Cofidis), Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise), Koen Barbe (Crelan - Euphony), Clinton Avery (Champion System) and veteran Nico Eeckhout (An Post - Chainreaction) escaped the peloton and started to build up a gap. Wallays was on the attack for the second day in a row and was out to defend his sprint jersey and to secure an overall top 10 finish by getting bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints.

They were, however, never allowed much freedom, and OmegaPharma-QuickStep always kept it under the three minute mark. The Belgian super team had stamped their authority on the race by dominating the prologue and were now out to secure final overall victory for leader Kristof Vandewalle and deliver former world champion Mark Cavendish to a possible sprint victory on the line.

Entering the finishing circuit, OmegaPharma-QuickStep went on the attack. It forced a massive selection in the peloton and quickly reduced the gap between the break and the peloton. While Cammaerts and Barbe were dropped from the breakaway, a 13 rider group escaped the peloton and caught the 4 remaining riders in the front to create a new 17-man leading group. Among the riders in front, OmegaPharma-QuickStep were the dominant force with the presence of Julien Vermote, Dries Devenyns, Niki Terpstra and Cavendish.

The group build an advantage of 20 seconds, but after a desperate chase the peloton closed the gap with 37 km left. A second peloton containing around 70 riders had, however, been left behind under the high pace.

Soon after, Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Renaud Dion (Bretagne - Seche), Alphonse Vermote (An Post - Chainreaction) and Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise) - the surprise podium finisher in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - created a gap. They build up an advantage of 40 seconds before the peloton started to reel it back in. With 2 kilometers to go, it was all back together, and the remnants of the peloton prepared for a final bunch sprint.

For the second day in a row, Cavendish was denied victory as Gerald Ciolek made history by securing the first victory for an African professional continental team. He beat Petit and Traksel and once again underlined that he has entered the season with incredible form. It will be interesting to see which mark he can leave on the team's first WorldTour event, Tirreno-Adriatico, which starts on Wednesday.

Kristof Vandewalle survived the day's many attacks and secured the first overall stage race victory of his career.

Result

1 Gerald Ciolek - MTN - Qhubeka

2 Adrien Petit - Cofidis
3 Bobbie Traksel - Champion System
4 Stefan Van Dijk - Accent Jobs - Wanty
5 Roy Jans - Accent Jobs - Wanty
6 Kurt Hovelijnk - Crelan - Euphony
7 Jonathan Cantwell - Saxo - Tinkoff
8 Alessandro Bazzana - UnitedHealthcare
9 Jonas Vangenechten - Lotto - Belisol
10 Alexander Porsev - Katusha