Second place for Alexander Kristoff gives Norwegian champion the lead after Peter Sagan dropped
German wunderkind sprinter Marcel Kittel (Project 1t4i) returned to winning ways, after his second place in the Handzame Classic two weeks before, with an emphatic victory in the second stage of the Driedaagsse De Panne-Koksijde, between Zottegem and Koksijde (Oostduinkerke). The 23-year-old, who was the sensation of 2011 – his first professional season – clocked up his fourth victory of the season so far as he crossed the line more than a bike length clear of Norwegian champion Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).
Kittel had time to sit up and celebrate well before the line, as Kristoff was still sprinting, and still managed to put daylight between their two bikes as he hit the line. Boy van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare) matched his best result of the year so far with third place, not far behind the Norwegian champion.
“My team positioned me very well, but at the finish I was a little alone” said Kittel to the Sporza cameras afterwards. “I had to fight for my place and fortunately I succeeded.
“Kristoff sprinted to the left, Van Hummel [who finished fourth – ed] went left, and I just went through the middle” he explained. “Tomorrow we have another chance in the morning stage; we’ll go for it.”
Consolation for Kristoff will be the fact that his second place finish was good enough to see him take over the race lead from stage one winner Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), who was dropped in the final five kilometres as the peloton sped towards the finish. The Norwegian is tied on time with the previous day’s second place, Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana), but has the lead by virtue of his more consistent finishing.
The stage took the form of a conventional breakaway and chase, with Jonathan Breyne (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Andy Cappelle (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas) and Brian Vandborg (Spidertech p/b C10) escaping in the opening 50km. Cappelle managed to leave the other two behind with just over 50km to go, but finally succumbed to the peloton with just 11km remaining.
No team was able to take complete control of the peloton as the finish approached, but Project 1t4i managed to manoeuvre Kittel to the front in the final kilometre, and the young German did the rest.
De Ronde’s climbs yesterday, Gent-Wevelgem’s today
Where the previous day’s stage was reminiscent of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the second day was to have far more of a Gent-Wevelgem flavour; taking in a hill zone in its midsection, based on the climb of the Kemmelberg. Starting close to the previous day’s Oudenaarde finish, the course would take the peloton west, almost to the French border, before turning north to the coast. Having arrived in Koksijde, the peloton would complete three laps of an 11.3km finishing circuit, around the town that hosted January’s World cyclocross championships, as well as the annual World Cup race.
After a fast opening 50km, Jonathan Breyne (Landbouwkrediet) attacked and was quickly joined by Andy Cappelle (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas) and Brian Vandborg (Spidertech p/b C10). Before they had got too far, Jiao Pengda (Champion System) – one of the two Chinese riders in the race – tried to bridge across to the three escapees, but was unsuccessful and between them they began to pull away from the peloton.
By the time they reached the first feedzone, after 90km, the three leaders had opened up their advantage to more than six minutes, which grew to 6’45” as they approached the hill zone.
Vandborg led over the top of the Mesenberg after 105km, with Cappelle taking maximum points over the Monteberg after 117km. Vandborg took the lead once more across the top of the Kemmelberg two kilometres later however, although – with only five climbs on the route, offering a maximum of 25 points – neither had the possibility of overhauling the 31 point total of mountain jersey holder Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto-Belisol).
As the peloton followed over the top of the Kemmelberg it was 6’37” behind. Cappelle took the points at the top of the Rodeberg after 124km, with Vandborg taking the Vidaigneberg a kilometre later. All that followed now were 90km of flat roads on the way back up to the North Sea coast.
No more hills but plenty of aggression
With 73km to go, acceleration on the front of the peloton from Omega Pharma-Quick Step caused a split halfway back. French champion Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) along with many of the FDJ-BigMat team were working hard in the front group, but Vacansoleil-DCM and Katusha led the chase in the second peloton; the gap opened to almost 15 seconds, but gradually the gap between the two groups was closed.
The gap to the leaders was also shrinking fast as the peloton’s pace went up; with 70km it was down to 4’40”, but, with 68km to go, as the two pelotons came together once again, it was down to 4’05”. There were still a number of riders left behind however, including Lotto-Belisol’s sprinter André Greipel, but they steadily rejoined over the following few kilometres.
With everybody safely back in the fold, the pace of the peloton relaxed once more, and with 60km to go, the trio’s lead had stabilised at 4’10”. Having been caught out behind the split beforehand, Lotto-Belisol had now taken control at the front, and the Belgian team was allowing the gap to widen again.
With 52km to go Vandborg – who had only signed with the Spidertech p/b C10 team two weeks previously – was suddenly dropped and, as the remaining two approached the first intermediate sprint with 51km to go, Cappelle attacked and left Breyne behind as well. As he crossed the line alone, the veteran Belgian was 4’20” ahead.
Lotto-Belisol began to up the pace – with Greipel himself taking some big turns – and, as Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Europcar joined them at the front, the peloton began to break up again.
With 42km to go, Cappelle’s lead dropped below three minutes, with the second half of the peloton some 20 seconds further back. The front group quickly picked up Vandborg, and Breyn shortly afterwards as the peloton passed the sand dunes that hosted the Cyclocross Worlds.
Cappelle’s time in the sun is almost up
Across the finish line to start the three finishing circuits with 34km to go, Cappelle’s lead was down to 1’24”, with FDJ-BigMat’s Steve Chainel – who is more used to racing in Koksijde on his cyclocross bike – taking the two second bonus at the head of the peloton; as Cappelle crossed the line for the second time, it had been cut to 36 seconds. The peloton was trying to put off the catch until the very last minute, but the lone Belgian was tiring, and as he took the bell with just 11.3km remaining he was only five seconds clear.
As he rounded the first corner, a few hundred metres past the finish line, Cappelle was caught, and the sprinters’ teams began to jostle for position.
Katusha took over the front of the bunch, before being muscled out by Omega Pharma-Quick Step, in the form of Chavanel once again. Behind the French champion though, Europcar was preparing his younger brother Sébastien, and FDJ-BigMat was looking after Yauheni Hutatovich.
Katusha, and then Astana, took over inside the final five kilometres, in the hope that Jacopo Guarnieri would be able to go one better than his second place this time. The Italian was looking likely to take over the lead regardless, as Peter Sagan dropped off the back; having sat in the rear of the peloton for several kilometres, the Slovakian was reportedly not planning to start the following day, and so was deliberately losing the leader’s jersey.
With 2km to go, the tram lines in the centre of the road caused a sudden crash, with Luke Durbridge and Svein Tuft (both GreenEDGE), and Daniele Righi (Lampre-ISD) among those to come down.
Katusha took to the front again into the final kilometre, but no team was able to maintain overall control as the finish approached. Project 1t4i moved Kittel to the front in the final few hundred metres however, and, once the German hit the front, he never looked like he would be caught.
The 23-year-old was already sitting up to celebrate, as the other sprinters were still battling for second place behind him.