Danny Van Poppel (Trek) confirmed that he is a big sprinter in the making when he took his first professional win in today's first stage of the Three Days of West-Flanders. The Dutchman beat Danilo Napolitano (Wanty) and Scott Thwaites (NetApp-Endura) in the bunch sprint while Gert Joeaar (Cofidis) comfortably defended his overall lead with just one stage to go.

Last year Danny Van Poppel took headlines when he was the youngest participant in the Tour de France since World War II. Today he got back in the spotlight when he took his first professional win in the first stage of the Three Days of West-Flanders.

With consistent sprinting, Van Poppel has long indicated that he has the potential to become a great sprinter and he further underlined his potential by taking today's victory. In the final dash to the line, he held off Danilo Napolitano and another promising fast man, Scott Thwaites.

The sprint came at the end of an aggressive day of racing as several teams tried to put overall leader Gert Joeaar and his Cofidis team under pressure in the classics terrain that they passed. Despite several attacks and constant reshuffles of the front groups, however, Cofidis managed to neutralize all attacks and set up their preferred outcome: a bunch sprint.

Stig Broeckx (Lotto Belisol) was caught as the final rider 4km from the finish and from there it was a fast pace all the way to the line. Topsport Vlaanderen took control for their sprinters Kenneth Vanbilsen and Tom Van Asbroeck but in the end they had no response to Van Poppel's burst of speed.

Joeaar finished safely within the bunch to defend his 5-second lead over Johan Le Bon (FDJ). He now just needs to get through another stage to seal the overall win but it will be no easy rider in tomorrow's final leg. The riders have to pass the Goeberg, Zwarteberg, Rodeberg, Monteberg, and Kemmelberg in classic Gent-Wevelgem terrain at the midpoint but the race ends with three laps on a finishing circuit. It has two smaller hills but is mostly flat and so it could easily end with another bunch sprint.

Classics terrain

After yesterday's prologue, the Three Days of West-Flanders continued with its first road stage which took the riders over 182.9km from Brugge to Harelbeke. After an opening flat stretch, the riders passed the finish line for the first time after 73.3km and from there they did a big loop around the city that included some legendary classics terrain, with the cobbles of the Varentstraat and the climbs of Oude Kwaremont and Tiegemberg being the main features. The race ended with three laps of an 11.5km flat circuit around Harelbeke.

While Sergey Lagutin (Rusvelo) suffered a punctured almost from the very beginning, the race was off to a fast start as several riders tried to get clear from the gun. After 6km of racing, it was still all together and the riders travelled another 6km before the break was established.

The break is formed

Laurens De Vreese ( Wanty - Groupe Gobert ) , Sander Helven ( Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise ), Julien Duval ( Roubaix - Lille Metropole ) and Michael Eduard Grosu ( Vini Fantini - Nippo )  took off and after a short battle, the peloton decided to stop for a natural break, allowing the gap to grow quickly. After 25km, the gap was 4 minutes and so Helven was now the virtual leader of the race.

The gap continued to come up and reached 5.31 after 37km. A little later, the escapees had bad luck when they had to stop at a railroad crossing, and when they again took off, their advantage was down to 4.45.

Cofidis lead the chase

Grosu beat Duval and De Vreese at the first intermediate sprint as the riders now had to diverge from the course due to a traffic accident. In the peloton, the pace was set but the Cofidis team of race leader Joeaar and after briefly allowing the gap to grow to 5.24, the French team started to accelerate as they neared the Oude Kwaremont.

The battle for position was now fierce and so the gap melted away at a rapid pace. With 83km to go, it was down to 1.41 as riders now started to fall off the pace in the main group.

Kwaremont does some damage

On the Kwaremont, the peloton split to pieces while Grosu and later also Duval fell off the pace. De Vreese beat Helven in the intermediate sprint at the top while Duval managed to secure third place.

The peloton had split into two groups and with 67km to go, the first one - which had caught Grosu and Duval - was 25 seconds behind the leaders while the second group was 1.07 behind. However, the two groups merged a little later before the riders had hit the Tiegemberg.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step attack

Just before the climb, the front duo were caught and as soon as they hit the slopes, Omega Pharma-Quick Step accelerated hard. Several riders fell off the pace and after the top, lots of attacks were launched from the main group.

Fumiyuki Beppu ( Trek Factory), Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma - Quick Step ), Tosh Van der Sande ( Lotto - Belisol ), Maxime Daniel ( AG2R ), Scott Thwaites ( NetApp - Endura ), and Stijn Steels ( Top Sport Flanders - Baloise ) managed to get clear and they had 12 seconds with 42km to go. However, they were quickly caught and instead Jan Ghyselinck (Wanty) took off.

Ghyselinck takes bonus seconds

The Belgian had finished 8th in yesterday's prologue and he crossed the finish line to start the first lap on the circuit as the lone leader. This allowed him to pick up three bonus seconds as the winner of the final sprint while Omega Pharma-Quick Step got their GC rider Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and sprinter Andrew Fenn over in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Ghyselinck was caught just after the sprint and instead Stig Broeckx (Lotto - Belisol) and Alphonse Vermote (Vastgoedservice - Golden Palace) took off. When they started the penultimate lap, they were 23 seconds ahead of the peloton which was still led by Cofidis.

Broeckx takes off on his own

Halfway through the lap, Broeckx attacked on his own and while Vermote was quickly caught, he managed to build a 25-second gap. In the peloton, Garmin and Cofidis were chasing hard, with the American team working for sprinter Raymond Kreder.

At the penultimate passage of the line, Broeckx was 19 seconds ahead. With 8km to go, he was still 8 seconds ahead and he got more hope when a crash that involved 2012 winner Julien Vermote (OPQS) disrupted the chase.

4km from the finish, however, it was over for Broeckx and instead all was set for a big bunch sprint. Topsport Vlaanderen took control for their sprinters Kenneth Vanbilsen and Tom Van Asbroeck but in the end Danny van Poppel emerged as the fastest.