The first stage at the Three Days of De Panne-Koksijde took the riders from De Panne to Zottegem. Three of the six riders in the break that made it to the finish were part of the Lotto Soudal team. It was Alexander Kristoff who won, beating Belgian champion Jens Debusschere in the sprint. Sean De Bie finished as fourth, Lars Bak was fifth.

The first twelve kilometres of the stage were neutralized because of the wind. Just before the feed zone in Oudenaarde, after 85 kilometres, Jens Debusschere got in a breakaway with Nelson Oliveira, Michael Reihs and Jarl Salomein. They had up to one and a half minutes lead. By the end of the first loop of 44,5 kilometres the gap had been considerably reduced. Lars Bak jumped away on a hill and made his way to the front of the race. Together with Jens Debusschere he started a duo time trial.

On the Leberg, in the second lap, several riders attacked. Sean De Bie was really attentive. Together with Stijn Devolder and Katusha teammates Alexander Kristoff and Sven Bystrøm he could bridge to Bak and Debusschere. Three of the six leaders were Lotto Soudal riders. In the peloton it was mainly Sky that set the pace, but the escapees would survive. The six leaders rode to the finish line together, Alexander Kristoff was the fastest. Jens Debusschere finished on the second place.

The Belgian champion was awarded the prize of most combative rider, Lars Bak leads the rushes classification. In GC Debusschere is second at two seconds of Kristoff. Bak is fourth at seven seconds, De Bie fifth at ten seconds. The first peloton finished at 34 seconds.

“It was important to race really attentively today," Debusschere said. "There was a strong tailwind at the start. With the entire team we rode in the first part of the peloton. It took a while before a group got away. I was part of that breakaway, although that wasn’t the plan before the stage. I was riding at the front of the peloton and jumped along, it was safer than in the bunch and my teammates didn’t have to work. I also tried to save energy. When Lars Bak bridged to the front we set up a duo time trial.

“Four riders bridged later, one of them was Sean De Bie. Also Kristoff was part of that quartet. That was a good thing because he and his teammate helped and it was one team less to chase us down. Also Stijn Devolder did his part of the work, to get a good place in GC.

"With Kristoff in the group you know it won’t be easy to win the stage. I was already riding in front for more than one hundred kilometres and I am not completely recuperated after Ghent-Wevelgem yet. I started sprinting early, but immediately felt Kristoff would win. We rode aggressively as a team. Sean and Lars have half a minute lead on other time trial specialists, so that’s a good start.”