Gert Joeaar defended his lead when he finished safely with the bunch in today's first stage of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen. The surprise winner of the prologue now feels confident that he will win the race when it ends tomorrow.

Gert Joeaar was the surprise winner of the prologue in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen and started today's first stage as the leader of the race. With the Estonian being mostly unknown, the bigger teams were uncertain about what to expect from the race leader.

However, Joeaar proved his strength when he easily responded to all attacks from the WorldTour teams on the climbs of Oude Kwaremont and Tiegemberg. In fact, he was so much at ease that he now feels comfortable that he will win the race.

"The day went very well," he told Directvelo. "We rode all day on the front. I wanted to take part in the sprint because I felt fine. Unfortunately, the crash made the peloton somewhat disorganized and I was mbadly positioned at the end. Tomorrow, if I have the same legs, I have good chances to keep the jersey, even if the stage is more difficult.

"It was not an easy day. During the ascent of the Old Kwaremont I lost some teammates in the first peloton, but it all ended well. My teammates managed to reconnect and could even assist me fully in the finale. From there, we controlled the race. 

"I had good legs and rode attentively. Actually, I dare now say that I they can't take it easy if they want to take the yellow jersey away from me. My job is to stay attentive."

The race ends with a hard stage in the Gent-Wevelgem terrain but a sprint finish is expected.