The second stage at the Three Days of De Panne went very successfully for BORA – ARGON 18. After 217 kilometers, Shane Archbold was beaten only by Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Elia Viviani (Sky) in the final sprint. The 26-years old New Zealander, second at the Classica Corsica last week, underlines his great shape shortly before the Tour of Flanders. Teammate Christoph Pfingsten dictated the race today in the group of the day and he stayed in front for almost 200 kilometers. The former cyclocross U23 vice world champion impressed with several attacks on the final laps, which was part of the team’s strategy today.

“When Kristoff wins, Viviani is second and we sprint to the podium, we haven’t done anything wrong. Given the competition here, scoring a third place is a great result. We definitely wanted to be part of a larger break-away group, so our sprinters could save some energy in the field. Christoph did exactly that, also with his attacks in the finale. The guys back in the peloton tried to keep a good position and to protect our sprinters, like Shane and Michael[Schwarzmann]. On the final kilometers, the guys found quickly each other and thus they could prepare the sprint optimally. That was a top performance from the whole team”, Sport Director Enrico Poitschke said after the stage.

The final day of the short Belgian tour will be divided in two half stages tomorrow. The riders have to complete a flat stage over 111 kilometers, starting and finishing in De Panne, in the morning. In the afternoon they have to compete in an individual time trial over 14 kilometers that are technically challenging.