Topsport Vlaanderen has had a fantastic start to their 2014 season and today they continued to impress when they surprisingly put Edward Theuns on the podium in the Handzame Classic. Set to lead teammate Michael Van Staeyen out, the Belgian suddenly found himself on his own and managed to sprint to third behind Luka Mezgec and Theo Bos.

Topsport Vlaanderen hav impressed in the early part of the season an clearly punched above their weight against some of the biggest teams. They won their two first races of the season, the GP la Marseillaise and the first stage of Etoile de Besseges, and went on to play a dominant role in Vuelta a Andalucia and the first two classics, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

Today the team again mixed it up with the WorldTour squads when Edward Theuns was a surprise podium finisher in the Handzame classic. Initially set to lead his teammate Michael Van Staeyen, the young Belgian suddenly found himself in a position to do his own sprint.

"I 'm happy to make the podium," he told Directvelo. "It was a chaotic sprint. Normally, I had to lead Van Staeyen out. He was not on my wheel and I decided to try my luck. There was room for improvement because I went too early. But we confirm our excellent start to the season. This bodes well for the next classics, Harelbeke and the Tour of Flanders."

Earlier in the race his teammate Tim Declercq had been part of the day's break that was caught 10km from the line.

"With teams controlling the race, it was almost certain that it would end in a sprint," he said. "But I still wanted to test me once more before the classics. The goal was to make the race tough, and I can go home with a focus on the classics.

"In the break, the collaboration was good, but we were well aware that our chances were minimal. But it' was a good workout and the opportunity to show myself. Now I will do Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3, Gent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix."