CULT Energy Pro Cycling’s Michael Reihs elegantly represented the team in today’s long-lasting breakaway during the initial stage of Three Days at Panne from De Panne to Zottegem. Ultimately, the Dane was caught and a new break made it to the finish line where Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) took a convincing win.

Thanks to a powerful tailwind, it was a very fast first stage of Three Days at Panne and in the first hour, the peloton covered no less than 56 kilometers. In spite of the pace, Michael Reihs managed to escape with three other riders including the Belgian road race champion Jens Debusschere (Lotto Soudal) . The quartet managed to hold off the chasing pack until the final 45 kilometers where Dane Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) bridged across and instantly shot past with teammate Debusschere and left CULT Energy Pro Cycling’s Michael Reihs behind.

With two teammates forming a new front tandem, Sky and Etixx-Quick Step were firing up their engines. Several short climbs on the run-in created perfect launch pads for new attacks and four riders including Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) bridged the gap while Team Sky were forced to chase in the peloton. However, the breakaway continuously stretched the gap and made it to the finish line. In the road race chess game finale, the break played it right in to the hands of Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) who made no mistake in the sprint and took the stage win and overall lead.

CULT Energy Pro Cycling DS André Steensen says:

“From the start of the stage, Mads Pedersen launched a few promising attacks but ultimately, Michael (Reihs) made it into the long-lasting breakaway and he did splendidly up there. However, his engine was too low on fuel to repond to the attack from Bak and Debusschere and had to forfeit.

"In the finale, we simply didn’t have the power to compete with the best and we got stuck in the third group across the finish line. This however provides us with the opportunity to chase stage wins as we don’t pose a real threat in the GC so we’ll be keep fighting to enter the breaks from the start of the stages.”