Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma – QuickStep) won the final stage of the 3 Days of West Flanders after a late solo attack from a select group of riders. Van Kuiersbulck was able to hold on for the win while the remnants of the escape group were caught by the peloton.
Danilo Napolitano (Wanty Groupe Gobert) finished 2nd while Danny van Poppel was 3rd. The prologue stage winner, Gert Joeaar (Cofidis) was able to defend his yellow jersey and win the race overall.
After losing Gerald Ciolek to illness yesterday, Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had no option but to go on the attack during the final stage. While they did not make the initial break of the day, this proved beneficial as it was brought back with 50km to go. A late move then went clear with 35km to go, containing Ignatas Konovalovas from Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung.
This late move would prove to be decisive as Van Keirsbulck was part of this 15 rider select group and would later launch his race winning move in the final kilometres from the group. Unfortunately Konovalovas and his breakaway mates were caught by the chasing peloton in the final few meters of the race.
The team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung squad, having a number of riders affected by illness in recent days, will now have two days until the start of the Tirreno-Adriatico World Tour race in which to ensure all our riders are healthy and ready to race on Wednesday.
3 Days of West Flanders (Belgium) – (7-9 March/UCI 2.1)
Gerald Ciolek (GER)
Andreas Stauff (GER)
Martin Reimer (GER)
Johann van Zyl (RSA)
Jay Thomson (RSA)
Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU)
Jaco Venter (RSA)
Staff: Jens Zemke (Sports Director), Dr Frederik van der Colff (Doctor), Bastian Buffel (Soigneur), Nico Beyens (Soigneur), Jim Bryan (Mechanic), Werner Lenk (Mechanic), Stevie Christaens (Mechanic)
