Last year Luka Mezgec was one of the big revelations on the sprinting scene but after testing his legs in yesterday's bunch sprint in the 3 Days of West-Flanders, the Slovenian admits that his form still not allows him to battle with the best. He hopes to get another chance to test his condition in today's second and final stage.

Stage 1 of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen can be put down as a nearly for Luka Mezgec and Team Giant-Shimano.

The stage as expected came down to a bunch sprint at the end of the 180km stage from Bruge to Harelbeke, and despite coming into the final corner in second wheel Luka Mezgec didn’t quite have the fire power.

The stage was a nervy affair run under good conditions with some wind, and it was a small move of four riders that spent much of the day out front, before being caught with around 60km to race.

This left a lot of room for attacking and they came thick and fast with different moves coming and going all the time making it quite a difficult race to control.

The bunch finally came back together in the final 10km and all was set for a bunch sprint, with Danny Van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing) coming out on top. Mezgec faded to finish around tenth on the line.

After the finish, Mezgec said: “I felt good during the stage but when I went to sprint at the finish I was a bit empty and had spent too much energy in getting into position before.

“I need some more races with fast finishes like this to really get back into the rhythm of bunch sprints, so I can learn and progress from today. Tomorrow could be another opportunity.”