Trek Factory Racing put in a dominant performance in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen to put no less than 4 riders into the overall top 10 and come away with a stage win for Danny Poppel. However, the team lost its podium spot on the final day and caused them to leave Belgium with a bitter taste in their mouth.

A 15-rider breakaway forged off the front in the second of the three final 11.5-kilometer finishing circuits, and until Trek Factory Racing’s Jasper Stuyven flatted out of the leading group the team was content with the situation.

Forced to chase, Trek Factory Racing worked hard to bring the breakaway back, only to see an attack by Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) with five kilometers remaining. He would hold off the charging peloton to take a solo win as the bunch sprint was launched on his heels.

Danilo Napolitano (Wanty-Group-Gobert) crossed the line for second place, with Trek Factory Racing’s Danny van Poppel in third. Gert Joeaar (Cofidis) finished in the same time to win the overall classification.

A five rider breakaway established after 22-kilometers for the undulating 186-kilometer final stage. The quintet was granted four minutes advantage before the peloton behind began to control the gap and keep them within a more comfortable distance.  They eventually were brought back into the fold before the final finishing circuits around Ichtegem.

The narrow, technical roads leading into the finish made the chase difficult, and also caused a gap in the main bunch. Kristof Vandewalle was caught out, rolling across the line in 44th, but losing nine valuable seconds - enough to drop him from third to ninth in the general classification. It was disappointing after the team’s hard work to lose the GC podium, remarked sport director Dirk Demol after the race had ended.

“The win yesterday is promising for the future. We are happy for the stage win, but to lose third GC is a bit of a shame. Yesterday the team was really good but I think today they did not have the same condition as yesterday.  It might have been the heat: it was 22 today, which is abnormal for here and a big change from yesterday’s cool weather.”

Even with 11 côtes dotting the parcours - five within 15 kilometers - the race did not split as expected, and a large 100-strong peloton entered the narrow roads of the finishing circuits.

“The race was not as hard as we expected, and the Kemmelberg did not cause much damage like we thought,” continued Demol. “At the end it was narrow, narrow roads.  When Jasper punctured we were on defense, and though we had [the breakaway] back by the finish, there were a bunch of gaps.  

“Jesse [Sergent] had to do a bike change just before the cobblestone sections and had to chase. The peloton had split into four or five groups there, and he managed to come back in the main peloton but it took a lot of effort. It was not really our day.”

In the end Trek Factory Racing finished with four riders in the top 10, and held on to win the overall in the team classification after taking the lead in yesterday’s stage. Demol was relieved the time gaps in the finish had not affected the team from losing the team GC as well.

“I was not sure with the time gaps in the finish if we would keep the team GC. I am happy that we held on to that after losing the overall podium.  Overall the team made a very successful race, and winning the best team shows the good work everyone did. Sure if we had the third place back it would be better, but overall we go away very satisfied."