Today the first stage of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen – 174,1 km from Brugge to Harelbeke - took place. As result of the stage Team Katusha’s rider Anton Vorobyev who won yesterday’s prologue, dropped down to second place in the overall, leaving the first position for Yves Lampaert from Etixx – Quick Step, who won stage 1.

"We knew it would be a hard stage with a number of tough climbs, including the famous Oude Kwaremont. From the start our team took the race under control, protecting Anton Vorobyev. But on Kwaremont there were a lot of attacks, so it was impossible to react to each of them. When the last break went away, we did our best to catch it. We just missed 4 seconds. Indeed, in general classification Anton moved down to second place, but we will keep on fighting tomorrow on the last stage," explained Team Katusha sports director Gennady Mikhaylov.

With more or less 60 km to go a big group of riders went away. After some time this group was reduced to 5 riders, among them Yves Lampaert, 4th in general classification. Team Katusha actively chased the break, but it managed to finish with 4 seconds ahead of the peloton. Yves Lampaert won the stage and took the overall lead. Tosh Van Der Sande from Lotto Soudal was second, Sander Cordeel Vastgoedservice closed the daily podium. Anton Vorbyev finished in the main bunch.

Before the final stage Lampaert has an 8-second gap over Vorobyev. Jesse Sergent from Trek Factory Racing is third at 0.12.