The general classification of VDK Driedaagse de Panne-Koksijde came down to four riders on course at the same time: Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team riders Niki Terpstra, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck, and the race leader Gert Steegmans against ORICA-GreenEDGE rider Luke Durbridge at the 14km Stage 3b time trial on Thursday.

Van Keirsbulck emerged as the overall winner thanks to an impressive top 5 finish in the stage. He placed 5th with a time of 18'02". Gert Steegmans rounded out the GC podium, finishing with a time of 18'19" in the stage.

The day, however, did not go perfectly for OPQS. Niki Terpstra had a problem with a small broken piece of his left pedal when he left the start house, which left him unable to clip back in and push 100 percent — especially accelerating after the corners — for the rest of the race. Terpstra was unable to contest the stage or the overall, but despite the mechanical problem he finished 4th in the GC with an 18'21" stage finishing time.

"This is unbelievableI simply have no luck in this race," he said, probably referring to the 2011 race where he crashed in the final time trial and was left with a broken collarbone. "I rode with only a half leg, because I couldn't pull up. During the entire stage, my shoe was unclipped from the pedal. And I couldn't stand on the pedals. It is very frustrating.

"I'm happy for those guys and for the team. We still won the race but I hate myself terribly."