Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) claimed the second stage of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde after a day full of echelons. The Norwegian outsprinted Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) and Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) in Koksijde.
Philippe Gilbert leads now Matthias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo) by 50 seconds with Kristoff third overall at 1min07s.
The win came from a reduced group of riders who broke away on a windy day for the 192.9k course that began in Zottegem. Second and third places were earned by Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) and Marcel Kittel of Quick-Step Floors, all on the same time of 4:37:29.
“I sort of led out myself for the sprint. I was afraid with the headwind I would be too slow so I sped up slightly all the way and when I saw the others guys coming I was able to sped up more. It was a hard sprint in the headwind but in these smaller sprints without the trains it is more man-against-man and they usually suit me quite well,” said Alexander Kristoff.
“It’s nice to win today. The parcours was a little bit easier so the sprinters were better. I was there with Marcel Kittel in the first group so I was not sure I could beat him as he is usually a bit faster than me. But after a hard race and without the big lead outs, we had our chance today and I was happy to see that I could hold them behind me and take the win today. You take what you can in cycling. If I cannot win on Sunday I will still always have this nice victory from today but I hope I have the shape on Sunday and I can fight for something”.
Three Days of De Panne 2017 – stage 2 results (Zottegem – Koksijde):
| 1 | Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) | 4:37:29 |
| 2 | Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 3 | Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 4 | Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 5 | Andrea Guardini (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 6 | Maxime Vantomme (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect) | ,, |
| 7 | Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 8 | Coen Vermeltfoort (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij) | ,, |
| 9 | Pierre Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) | ,, |
| 10 | Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) | ,, |
General classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | 9:13:28 |
| 2 | Matthias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo) | +50” |
| 3 | Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) | +1’07” |
| 4 | Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) | +1’11” |
| 5 | Pim Lightart (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij) | +1’15” |
| 6 | Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) | ,, |
| 7 | Maxime Vantomme (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect) | +1’17” |
| 8 | Pierre Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) | ,, |
| 9 | Boy Van Poppel (Trek-Segafredo) | +1’22” |
| 10 | Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Soudal) | +2’25” |
