Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took his first professional victory by launching an exceptional solo attack in the finale of the second and last stage of the Three Days of West-Flanders. Having originally been part of a 15-rider group, he attacked on his own with 5km to go and narrowly held off the fast-moving peloton to take the win and move into 2nd on GC while Gert Joeaar (Cofidis) held onto the leader's jersey.

Yesterday Danny Van Poppel took his first professional victory in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen and today it was another youngster who opened his account when the race ended with its second and final stage. Guillaume Van Keirsbulck confirmed his big potential when he arrived solo at the finish to take the stage victory.

Van Keirsbulck had bridged across to a strong 14-rider group that had taken off on the final 3 laps of an 11.5km finishing circuit in Ichtegem but when he sensed that the peloton was approaching from behind, he decided to take off on his own. He made his move 5km from the finish and with just a small gap over the main group, it appeared to be mission impossible.

However, Van Keirsbulck was on a double mission as he both wanted the stage win and the overall victory as he had started the stage in 6th on GC, 14 seconds behind overall winner Gert Joeaar. With 10 bonus seconds for the win, he just needed to hold off the peloton by 4 seconds to relegate the Estonian race leader into second.

That was extra motivation for Van Keirsbulck who had an amazing ride to hold off the peloton to take the stage win. Behind, Danilo Napolitano (Wanty) and yesterday's winner Van Poppel again battled it out in the bunch sprint and this time the Italian was the fastest, taking another second place in the race..

While Van Keirsbulck got his stage win, there was no double for the young Belgian. At the line, the gap had been brought down to just 1 second, meaning that Joeaar took the win that had been founded by his great ride in the prologue. However, Van Keirsbulck moved into 2nd in the final standings while Johan Le Bon (FDJ) rounded out the podium.

Napolitano was rewarded for his consistent sprinting by winning the points jersey while Eduard Grosu (Vini Fantini) won the sprints competition. Van Keirsbulck was of course also the winner of the young riders competition.

The Belgian season will now make a small break while attention focuses on the bigger WorldTour events. The next big Belgian race is the Nokere-Koere which takes places on March 19.

Classics terrain

The Three Days of West-Flanders came to an end with a 186km stage from Nieuwpoort to Ichtegem. The race had a flat start but then entered some classical Gent-Wevelgem terrain when the riders had to climb the Goeberg, Zwarteberg, Roeberg, Monteberg, and the famous Kemmelberg. The race ended with three laps of an 11.5km finishing circuit that contained the small hills of Keiberg and Ruidenberg.

All the big teams were hopeful that today's harder terrain could put overall leader Joeaar into difficulty and when the race started off in windy conditions, they tried to make it tough from the very beginning. BMC made an immediate attack in the crosswinds and Guillaume Levarlet ( Cofidis ) , Franck Vermeulen ( Roubaix Lille Métropole ) , Gaetan Bille ( Verandas Willems ) , Marcel Weber ( Team Stuggart ) and Manubu Ishibashi ( Vini Fantini ) fell off almost from the gun.

Grosu takes the sprints jersey

The fierce pace caused a split in the peloton and after 30km, the second group was 30 seconds behind. For some time, the two group were involved in a fierce pursuit while Grosu beat Napolitano and Silvan Dillier (BMC) in the first intermediate sprint to move into the provisional lead of the sprints competition ahead of overnight leader Laurens De Vreese (Wanty).

As Joeaar had not been put into difficulty by the hard pace, the peloton slowed down and this made room for attacks to be launched. After 34km, Martin Kohler ( BMC ) , Benoit Jarrier (Brittany Seche ) , Jelle Wallays ( Top Sport ) , Boris Vallee ( Lotto Belisol ) took off and they were quickly joined by Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2r).

Cofidis up the pace

The peloton stepped off the gas and allowed the five riders to build up a gap that reached 3.009 after 43km of racing. The short breather allowed the peloton to regroup before Cofidis started to control the pace for Joeaar.

The French team allowed the gap to reach 4.20 after 55km of racing but the pace now ramped up again as the riders hit the hilly zone. Unsurprisingly, it was Omega Pharma-Quick Step who hit the front to try to put their rivals into difficulty on the slopes.

The climbs fail to make a difference

The Belgian team rode a had pace on all five hills but at the top of the Kemmelberg, the peloton still consisted of around 100 riders. However, the hard pace had brought the gap down to 2.29.

The peloton was kept high enough to reduce the gap to 1.30 before the peloton again slowed down a bit to allow it to grow back up to 2.13. Meanwhile, Bagdonas beat Vallee and Wallays in the second intermediate sprint.

The cobbles do some damage

The peloton accelerated when they approached the cobbled Steenstraat section and again the gap started to come down. Jarrier fell off the pace on the rough surface while Valle was unfortunate to creash, leaving just Kohler, Bagdonas, and Wallays in the escape.

However, the peloton had split to pieces on the cobbled section and the fierce pace brought things back together with 51km to go. The main group again slowed down and this allowed Hugo Houle ( AG2R ) , Wesely Kreder ( Wanty Groupe Gobert ) et Tim Vanspeybroeck ( Team 3M ) to take off.

A big group is formed

As the riders approached the final sprint at the first passage of the line, several riders tried to attack and a big group managed to join the front trio. Andrew Fenn  (Omega Pharma - Quick Step ) , Klaas Lodewyck ( BMC ) , Dylan Van Baarle ( Garmin - Sharp ) , Jonas Ahlstrand ( Giant - Shimano) , Arnaud Gerard (Brittany - Seche ) , Ignatas Konovalovas ( MTN - Qhubeka ) , James Vanlandschoot  ( Wanty - Groupe Gobert ) , Kenneth Van Bilsen ( Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator )  and Sébastien Delfosse ( Wallonie - Bruxelles ) all made it across in time for Fenn to beat Lodewyck and Vanlandschoot in the sprint.

The front group was 28 seconds ahead with 30km to go and soon after Jan Barta who had started the race in 9th overall, made an impressive job to bridge across. A little later, Van Keirsbulck did the same, making it a 15-rider group that was very dangerous for Joeaar.

Trek lead the chase

Behind, Trek started to chase with Stijn Devolder and Kristof Vandewalle as they wanted to set up Van Poppel for another win. They brought the gap down to 20 seconds with 21km to go but for the next 10km, the gap was rather stable around that mark.

Cofidis joined Trek on the front but then they started the final lap, the gap had grown to 30 seconds. Alaphilippe was doing a lot of work in the front group while Trek and Cofidis chased hard behind.

Van Keirsbulck takes off

Houle was unfortunate to crash out of the lead group but the gap had now started to come down and so it appeared to be no major disaster. While Rick Zabel (BMC) punctured in the peloton, Van Keirsbulck decided that he need to do it alone and he was still 14 seconds ahead when 3km remained.

The rest of the group was caught but the peloton never rejoined Van Keirsbulck who held them off by 1 tiny second. Behind, Napolitano beat Van Poppel in the sprint for 2nd while Joeaar got breathe a sigh of relief as he had secured himself the overall win.