With three riders in the top 6, Trek Factory Racing was the dominant team in today's prologue in the Three Days of West-Flanders but the team was beaten into the minor positions by Gert Joeaar and Johan Le Bon. Despite the final two stages being mostly flat, the team promises to put up a fight to defend Kristof Vandewalle's win in the race.

It had the makings of a Trek Factory Racing clean sweep for the top three postions as Stijn Devolder and Jesse Sergent were sitting 1-2 with only ten riders to go, and the final starter in the prologue was none other than last year’s victor, teammate Kristof Vandewalle.

However, an astonishing ride by Estonian rider Gert Joeaar (Cofidis) knocked all favorites from the top step as he blasted through in a stunning time of 07:53, a full 11 seconds quicker than Devolder.  Moments later Johan Le Bon (FDJ.fr) also broke under eight minutes in 07:58, further dropping Devolder and Sergent down the ladder, to third and fourth respectively. 

Only one of the next five riders managed to crack the top times - Silvan Dillier (BMC) finished in 08:07 slotting between Devolder and Sergent - and all eyes turned to the last rider in the start house, Kristof Vandewalle: Could he repeat last year’s win?

In 2013, Kristof Vandewalle won the prologue and the overall granting him the honor of the final starting position in this year’s time trial. The course was identical to previous editions, a narrow pencil-shaped loop with less than a handful of technical corners to navigate - a fast course – but Vandewalle’s winning time last year (08:09) was already topped by seven riders.

Vandewalle put in a gritty ride and crossed the line in 08:01, seven seconds faster than last year, but only enough for third place. He would earn the white jersey signifying the top rider of West Flanders for his effort; however, it was not the jersey the team was gunning for explained director Dirk Demol after the race had finished.

“It was a little bit of a surprise for me that Joeaar won. At the end I was calculating that it might be the rider from Quick Step that could go faster, but not these guys. Van Bon is a good time trialist, but not so much for a short distance like this, and especially when it’s flat. But, okay, they did it, chapeau to them.

"To be honest I cannot see where our boys could have gone faster. It was a good performance, so I cannot say we are disappointed with a third, fourth and sixth – I guess you could say I am disappointed in the results, but not with our performance.”

The next two days over the Flanders region will include cobblestones, steep hills, and if the typical stiff wind blows there will be a high possibility of echelons to make the race hard, said Demol.

“For sure we will try something, we have three guys in the top six and it is in our neighborhood. We know the roads, the parcours, and we are not going to make it easy for them.”

"I'm still disappointed," Vandewalle told Directvelo. "I based my time on Devolder. I thought it would be enough to win the prologue. When I crossed the line, I thought I had won the race, but ultimately it was not enough. 

"My time was not so bad but I only finished third. I had Devolder's time as a reference and I was two or three seconds better but apparenly two riders who had been even faster.

"Gert Joeaar is a surprise winner. I know him by name. This is not a rider who comes from nowhere. Now we'll see with the team if we can take the lead. The next two days will be full gas. Our team is strong enough to put Joeaar under pressure."

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