Peter Sagan (Cannondale) repeated last year's win in the hilly opening stage of the Driedaagse van de Panne. He joined a strong 10-rider lead group inside the final 10 kilometres of the race and narrowly held off Arnaud Demare (FDJ) in a photo finish.

If anybody still doubted whether Peter Sagan is ready for this Sunday's Tour of Flanders, those doubt may have been out firmly to rest by an another impressive performance by the all-conquering Slovakian in today's opening stage of the Driedaagse de Panne-Koksijde. Instigating the attack shortly after the passage of the final climb, the Eikenmolen, he drew clear a strong 10-man from a peloton whose size had been drastically reduced throughout a hard day of racing with plenty of climbs and wind.

With Arnaud Demare being joined in the lead group by his FDJ teammate Johan Le Bon, the latter sacrificed his chance to make sure that the group stayed away to the finish. Sagan also took some huge turns, and their joint work made sure that the group would play out the stage win between them.

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) opened his sprint, but Sagan was attentive, caught his wheel and countered. Demare tried to pass the Slovakian on his right, but feared to crash and put his hand on the Cannondale rider's back. As he opened up the gas, he had an amazing turn of speed and was very close to beat Sagan in a photo finish. Kristoff ended up 3rd.

Sylvain Chavanel and Niki Terpstra (both Omega Pharma-Quick Step) were both present in the group and gained important time on their main GC rivals. Behind, Vancansoleil and Orica-GreenEdge worked hard to bring back the duo and thus protect the GC chances of Lieuwe Westra and Luke Durbridge respectively, but they failed in their attempt.

Actually, Omega Pharma-Quick Step had all day tried to set up Mark Cavendish for a sprint win, and the Manxman looked very strong on the climbs throughout the day. In the end, he failed to join the final attack, and he must have been disappointed to miss out after an otherwise impressive performance.

An early attack into the headwind

The 200km stage started in the coastal city of Middelkerke and brought the riders into the Flemish Ardennes. After the first passage of the finish line, 2 laps of a 45km finishing circuit with 5 climbs and cobbled stretch awaited the riders in a race whose profile made it the perfect preparation for Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

With a strong headwind from the start and all the way to the start of the first lap on the circuit, the race started out calmly. Marco Haller (Katusha), Koen Barbe (Crelan-Euphony), Sam Bennett (An Post-Chainreaction) and Kiel Reijnen (Unitedhealthcare) were allowed to built up a gap of more than 6 minutes.

As the peloton approached the finishing circuit with climbs and strong crosswinds, the pace picked up and the advantage started to drop rapidly. Andre Greipel had won this stage in 2011, and so it was no surprise to see Lotto up the pace in the early crosswinds section.

The wind, the climbs and the cobbled stretch of Haaghoek provided plenty of opportunities to go on the offensive, and attacks came thick and fast without anyone gaining any ground. Finally, Tomas Vaitkus (Orica-GreenEdge) succeeded and built up a gap on the peloton which calmed down.

Disagreement in the front group

Up ahead, Haller put in numerous attacks and managed to go solo multiple times. While Reijnen and Bennett were both dropped and later caught by the peloton, Barbe managed to get back on each time. Clearly frustrated by Haller's lack of cooperation, a lengthy discussion ensued before the pair started to finally work together in an attempt to stay away.

Behind, Vaitkus was caught by Damien Gaudin (Europcar), Mattia Pozzo (Vini Fantini) and Kess Heytens (Team 3M) to create a 4-rider escape group. With Gaudin and Vaitkus doing the majority of the work, the group caught the two leaders, and the 6 riders entered the final lap in the front.

In the peloton, Omega Pharma-Quick Step decided to take things into their own hands, and 7 of their 8 riders amassed at the front of peloton with Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Gert Steegmans swapping turns.

With 38 km to go, Gaudin dropped his companions and continued on his own while fellow escapees were all caught. In the peloton, the attacks started again as soon as they hit the climbs and the crosswinds section. Oscar Gatto (Vini Fantini), Chavanel, Durbridge and Sagan were among the most active, and even Cavendish and Greipel put in small attempts.

Boonen takes control

The aggressive racing forced a massive selection, and with just under 30 km remaining no more than 60 riders were left in the peloton. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) went to the front to get in some quality training ahead of the Tour of Flanders and to work for teammates Chavanel and Cavendish and with assistance from a strong Stuart O'Grady (Orica-GreenEdge), Gaudin was finally brought back.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step tried to take control and keep everything together, but attacks still went off the front every minute. However, no one was able to gain any ground and with only the final climb, Eikenmolen, left, it looked as if it would up in a sprint in the small peloton.

Sagan puts down the hammer

Hitting the Eikenmolen, Sagan put in a fierce acceleration and drew clear Chavanel. Behind, Cavendish was - impressively - very close to stay in contact with the duo, but he had to drop off and leave his teammate and the Gent-Wevelgem winner up ahead. With Cavendish left behind, Chavanel refused to cooperate, and so more riders joined from behind.

Sagan put in another dig with 8 km remaining, and this created a front group with Sagan, Chavanel, Gatto, Niki Terpstra, (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). Le Bon, Demare and Davide Cimolai (Lampre) joined them, and later Maxime Vantomme (Crelan-Euphony), Jerome Cousin (Europcar) and Kristoff all reached the front by strong solo efforts.

Le Bon sacrificed his own chances to set up Demare for the sprint while Orica-GreenEdge, Vacansoleil, Astana and Argos-Shimano all tried to close the gap. They got close, but as the front group passed the flamme rouge, it was clear that the stage winner would be one of the riders in the lead group.

In the end, Sagan beat Demare in a very close photo finish while Greipel won the sprint behind to take his seconds consecutive 11th place after a similar in result in Gent-Wevelgem.

With his victory, Sagan is of course the first leader of the race, and he will wear the leader's jersey in tomorrow's seconds stage, a 204km trek back to the coast. With strong crosswinds expected on the final 70km before the peloton hits the finishing circuits, the predicted bunch sprint may be fail to materialize in what could be an epic day of racing.

Result

1. Peter Sagan

2. Arnaud Demare

3. Alexander Kristoff

4. Sylvain Chavanel

5. Oscar Gatto

6. Niki Terpstra

7. Maxime Vantomme

8. Jerome Cousin

9. Davide Cimolai

10. Johan Le Bon

General classification

1. Peter Sagan

2. Arnaud Demare +0.04

3. Alexander Kristoff +0.06

4. Sylvain Chavanel +0.10

5. Oscar Gatto

6. Niki Terpstra

7. Maxime Vantomme

8. Jerome Cousin

9. Davide Cimolai

10. Johan Le Bon