Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung left the 3 Days of De Panne on a high note after Jay Thomson spent the day in the break and Youcef Reguigui put in a decent sprint to finish 10th during stage 3a. Sach Modolo (Lampre-Merida) won stage 3a and Maciej Bodnar (Cannondale) took the stage 3b time trial. Guillaume Van Kiersbulck (Omega Pharma – QuickStep) rode away with the overall honours.
Stage 3a
The flat and fast 109km route saw a group of 5 riders slip away from the peloton early on, including Thomson. The shorter than usual stage though had the sprinters interested from the get go, this would result in the break never getting more than a 4 minute advantage. As quickly as the action started, it also came to it’s conclusion. With a 2’57” gap and 30km to race, the peloton turned on the gas and reeled in the break to set up the sprint. Modolo took the honours on the line with Andrea Gaurdini (Astana) 2nd and Kenny van Hummel (Androni Giocattoli) 3rd. Reguigui was able to mix it up with the fast men too, netting 10th place for Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung.
Stage 3a Results
Stage 3b
The 14km time trial was not a route that would suit our Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung riders. Jay Thomson and Martin Reimer would put in solid efforts by their own standards but both riders would finish around a minute of the pace. Bodnar’s (Cannondale) average speed of 48km/h was fast enough to relegate Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura) and David Boucher (FDJ.fr) to the minor places.
Stage 3b Results
Overall GC Results
