Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) is unstoppable at the Driedaagse van De Panne as he added the opening half-stage on the final day to the win he took less than 24 hours earlier in the second stage. The Italian got safely through the final turn that always makes the sprint in the stage a very dangerous affair and narrowly held off Andrea Guardini (Astana) for his second win. Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) was badly positioned for the sprint but defended his lead ahead of the afternoon time trial.

 

After winning the second stage of the Driedaagse van De Panne, Sacha Modolo said that he was now starting to get a better understanding of the Belgian races and he certainly seems to be right in that assessment. Today he doubled his tally in the Belgian race when he emerged as the fastest in the opening half-stage on the final day.

 

The stage usually comes down to a bunch sprint and this year it was no different. And everything was as it used to be in the very dangerous finale that is the same year after year in the De Panne stage.

 

A sharp right-hand turn comes just a few hundred metres from the line and history proves that you won't win the stage if you are not at the very front through that corner. As usual it was a fierce sprint between all the big trains to get through in the first position, with Giant-Shimano, Topsport and Lampre Merida going head-to-head.

 

Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) found the going a bit too dangerous and decided to slow down as his teammate Tom Veelers seemed to be losing the battle against their rival trains. Instead, it was Topsport Vlaanderen who came out triumphant, with Michael Van Staeyen doing an impressive job to allow points leader Kenneth Vanbilsen to get through in the first position.

 

Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol) took a big gamble and crashed hard when he went through the turn too fast while up ahead Vanbilsen launched his sprint. He was quickly passed by Andrea Guardini and Kenny Van Hummel (Androni) who had been 2nd and 3rd through the corner while Modolo was a little further back.

 

When the Italian launched his sprint, however, he easily passed his rivals but then his progress stalled and Guardini got closer at the end. The duo crossed the line side by side but the Italian was slightly ahead and so took his sixth win of the season.

 

Overall leader Gert Steegmans got hampered by a crash and so failed to feature in the final sprint. With Oscar Gatto (Cannondale) abandoning the race, however, he extended his lead to 3 seconds over Vanbilsen.

 

The race comes to a close later today when the riders tackle the decisive 14.3km time trial in De Panne. Steegmans faces tough competition from teammate Niki Terpstra who is in third, just 5 seconds off the overall lead.

 

Starting at 14.25 CEST you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

 

A flat morning stage

As usual, the final day of the Driedaagse van De Panne kicked off with its 109.8km morning stage starting and finishing in De Panne. The route consisted of a big loop north of the city and ended with a lap of an 8km finishing circuit in the city. The course was entirely flat and history proves that only the wind cand prevent a big bunch sprint.

 

For the thrd day in a row, the race took off in nice weather conditions. As per tradition, there were a lot of non-starters as many riders want to save their energy and recover for the Tour of Flanders. That was the reason for Arnaud Demare, Luca Paolini, and Oscar Gatto who have all decided that Sunday's race is more important than today's two half-stages. Demare was in 8th on GC and with his improved time trialing, he could both have won the opening half-stage and ended high in the overall standings. Gatto was 2nd in GC but his poor time trialing skills would have seen him drop down the standing anyway.

 

A fast start

Laurens De Vreese (Wanty) has also headed home, probably also with a view towards Flanders while Johnny Hoogerland (Androni) is out of the race with knee pain.

 

As in previous days, the race was off to a very fast and animated start with several riders trying to take off right from the gun. One of the active riders was Stijn Steels (Topsport) who lost the lead in the sprint standings to Gert Steegmans (OPQS) in yesterday's stage and was keen to get it back.

 

5 riders on the attack

The Belgian was ultimately successful when five riders were allowed to take off. He was joined by Joren Segers (3M), Jaap De Man (3M), Jay Thomson (MTN-Qhubeka) and Martijn Maaskant (Unitedhealthcare) and they quickly got a 1.30 gap while the peloton slowed down under the control of Andrew Fenn, teammate of overall leader Steegmans.

 

So far Marcel Kittel had not got the results from this race that he wanted and so he quickly asked his Giant-Shimano teammates to control the situation. The Dutch team got help from the Lampre-Merida team of yesterday's winner Sacha Modolo and Steegmans' OPQS team. The three formations only allowed a 1.40 gap and wuickly brought it down to 1.15.

 

Vastgoestservice control the peloton

That was a bit too early and so they slowed down to allow it to go back to 1.30 as a single Vastgoestservice rider was leading the chase for his sprinter Kevin Peeters. When he stopped his effort, there was a short hesitation until Sea Keong Loh took control for Giant-Shimano.

 

Omega Pharma-Quick Step also added Martin Velits to the team of chasers but as the peloton approached a change in direction, it got very nervous. Several teams rallied near the front to make sure that their captains were well-protected.

 

FDJ try to split the peloton

FDJ won the battle ahead of the crucial turn and the French team tried to split things with David Boucher riding hard on the front. The advantage for the escapees melted away and was down to 35 seconds by the time, FDJ stopped their action and calm was restored, allowing Daniele Colli (YellowFluo) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) to rejoin the group after their mechanicals.

 

The peloton now slowed completely down and while five FDJ riders were rolling along at the front, chatting to each other, the gap went up to 3.00. At this point, only 28km remained and so it was time for the sprint teams to kick into action.

 

Back to work

Lampre-Merida took the responsibility by putting Andrea Palini on the front and he quickly got help from Vegard Breen (Lotto), Martin Velits and Tobias Ludvigsson (Giant). Again the gap started to melt away and with 20km to go it was already down to 1.30.

 

Katusha also started to chase with Viacheslav Kuznetsov and as the peloton hit a windy section, riders started to getting dropped. Elia Favilli started to work for Lampre and the fourt teams had the gap down to 20 seconds with 14km to go.

 

Steels takes the sprint

Steels rode hard on the front to make sure that he reached the intermediate sprint 13.5km from the finish and it was mission accomplished when he ended a big turn by crossing the line ahead of De Man and Maaskant. Just after the sprint, Segers attacked and he was joined by Thomson while the remaining three riders sat up to wait for the peloton.

 

A small lull in the peloton allowed the gap to go back up to 20 seconds but Lampre-Merida got back to work with Palini and Favilli. They got some assistance from Bardiani but the gap remained stable at around 20 seconds.

 

Giant take control

At the first passage of the line, the gap was 15 seconds, and Thomson had to slow down to wait for Segers. Realizing that he was the strongest, the MTN rider attacked but Segers managed to respond.

 

With 7k m to go, Giant-Shimano took control as Ludvigsson and Albert Timmer led the strong train to the front. The duo swapped turns for quite a while as the sprint teams were now jostling for position.

 

More attacks

With 4km to go, the break was caught which prompted Michael Vingerling (3M) to give it a go. He managed to build up an 8-second gap before he was brought back by Giant-Shimano.

 

A crash near the front brought down a few riders, including Andrew Fenn and Sonny Colbrelli (Bardiani), and destryed the sprint for Steegmans as he lost several positions. Sander Cordeel (Vastgoestservice) made an unsuccessful attack and when he was back, Lampre hit the front.

 

Lampre take control

Davide Cimolai, Maximilano Richeze, and Modolo rode hard on the front and started the big sprint for the final turn. Veelers was up there with Kittel but it was Topsport who won the battle.

 

Vanbilsen was the first rider through the turn but in the end Modolo emerged as the strongest for the second day in a row.