With victory in last year's stage, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) has fond memories of the technical finish of the morning stage on the final day of the Driedaagse van de Panne. Today he proved that his triumph was no coincidence as he held off Sacha Modolo (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) and Elia Viviani (Cannondale) in a fast and hectic bunch sprint.

Alexander Kristoff has been a very consistent performer in this year's Driedaagse van de Panne. He was part of the strong 10-man break in stage 1 and ended up 3rd in the sprint. Yesterday, he was again in the mix with his 5th place finish, and today's victory was just another confirmation of the strong condition put on show already in Milan-Sanremo and Gent-Wevelgem.

Today's sprint came at the end of a hectic stage in which the constant risk of crosswinds turned awareness and positioning into the key attributes for any ambitious rider. Teams like Orica-GreenEdge, FDJ, Vacansoleil and Omega Pharma-Quick Step all put in multiple accelerations in the crosswinds sections, and the peloton split up numerous times. With the key sprinters and GC riders all able to stay in the front group, the action calmed down again, and it was a rather big peloton entering the final finishing circuit in De Panne.

Team Argos-Shimano placed complete faith in their sprinter Marcel Kittel - sho has struggled due to a bout of flu prior to the race - and strung out the peloton inside the final 5km. However, the Dutch team came short of manpower towards the end, and it was Katusha who made sure to position Kristoff perfectly ahead of the final, all-decisive corner with 350 meters to go.

The big Norwegian opened up his sprint just after the bend with Modolo in his wheel, and the Italian sprinter had no chance to pass the big Norwegian on the cobbled finishing straight. Kittel was boxed in while Cavendish deemed the finish too dangerous and stopped his effort during the hectic run-in to the final corner.

With his win, Kristoff takes 6 bonus seconds, and so he will enter the all-decisive time trial this afternoon with the leader's jersey on his back. He has an advantage of 4 seconds over previous race leader Arnaud Demare (FDJ). With defending champion Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) just 10 second behind, it will be an almost impossible task for the Norwegian Olympic bronze medallist to defend the jersey, and we may very well see a repeat of last year where Kristoff had also entered the time trial as the race leader and where Chavanel took the final overall victory.

The three big Tour of Flanders contenders Tom Boonen, Peter Sagan and Luca Paolini all chose not to start today's stage and will rest ahead of Sunday's big race. Sprinter Andre Greipel was also a non-starter due to a sore throat.

A calm start

The 110km morning stage consisted of a big 102km loop around the coastal city of De Panne followed by an 8km finishing circuit in the city streets. With many riders wanting to save their legs for the afternoon time trial, it was no surprise to see the stage get off to a calm start.

Russell Downing (NetApp-Endura), Tim De Troyer (Accent.jobs-Wanty), Thomas Vernaeckt (Team 3M), Mike Terpstra (Team 3M) and 42-year old Niko Eeckhout (An Post-Chainreaction) - who was on the attack for the second consecutive day - escaped the peloton's clutches and were allowed to build a gap of more than 2 minutes.

Keeping the short distance in mind, the peloton made an early reaction, and after just 30km of racing, they started to bring down the gap. The FDJ team of race leader Demare and Bardiani with sprinters Modolo and Sonny Colbrelli did the bulk of the pace-making work.

Crosswinds action

There were plenty of changes in direction throughout the 102km opening circuit, and this created a very nervous race. Periods of complete calm were replaced by hectic activity when the peloton approached a corner, and Orica-GreenEdge, Vacansoleil - with a very attentive Lieuwe Westra who had lost time to Chavanel in the previous two stages - Omega Pharma-Quick Step and FDJ all tried to split things up.

The peloton split up multiple times, but each time everything came back together. The break was about to get caught on a number of occasions, but as soon as the peloton calmed down again, their gap once again started to increase.

After another FDJ attack in the crosswinds, it was, however, all back together inside the final 30km. There was an immediate reaction from Alphonse Vermote (An Post-Chainreaction), Reinier Honig (Crelan-Euphony) and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), and the trio started to built up a small gap. They were later joined by Matthew Brammeier (Champion System), but with Van Keirsbulck refusing to contribute to the work, the break was always doomed. They were caught with around 10km to go.

The sprint trains get organized

There was now hectic activity with the sprint trains starting to get organized near the front of the peloton. On the final finishing circuit, Team Argos-Shimano decided to take things into their own hands. 6 riders lined up at the head of the peloton and chased down short-lived attacks by Stuart O'Grady and Michael Hepburn (both Orica-GreenEdge).

Marcel Kittel was at the back of the Dutch train, but inside the final kilometer, his last man dropped off to early, and he had to fight for position on his own in a very hectic sprints towards the final corner with 350 meters to go. Katusha won the fight, and Kristoff entered the bend in prime position. He opened up the sprint and was able to take a convincing second consecutive victory in the streets of De Panne.

Starting at 14.45, you can follow the final time trial on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

Result

1. Alexander Kristoff

2. Sacha Modolo

3. Elia Viviani

4. Sonny Colbrelli

5. Baptiste Planckaert

6. Davide Cimolai

7. Kenny Dehaes

8. Mark Cavendish

9. Kenny Van Hummel

10. Alessandro Bazzana

General classification

1. Alexander Kristoff

2. Arnaud Demare +0.04

3. Mark Cavendish +0.09

4. Sylvain Chavanel +0.10

5. Maxime Vantomme