Three Days of De Panne – Modolo Wins stage 2

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Lampre’s Sacha Modolo won stage 2 in the Three Days of De Panne whilst Gert Steegmans leads overall after Sagan misses break and abandons

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Three Days of De Panne – Modolo Wins stage 2

The iconic climb of the Kemmelberg saw Peter Sagan’s days in the leader’s jersey numbered when the race split and a large selection went clear to catch the early break. In the bunch kick that followed, Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) won the stage and Gert Steegmans of Omega Pharma Quickstep now leads overall.

DePanneStage2

Photo: driedaagse.be 

The second stage of Three Days of De Panne (De Panne-Koksijde) over 206 km saw the riders racing full gas quickly but it took almost 20k or so before a break formed of eight riders. The peloton were eager for a rest and the break’s lead quickly went out to seven minutes before the teams eager for a result such as FDJ took up the chase and the gap started to come down.

It was on the Kemmelberg, with the break still away, that the peloton split. Sagan didn’t seem interested in keeping his leader’s jersey and later left the race leaving his teammate Oscar Gatto to battle for the jersey.

Sure enough, the Cannondale rider who narrowly lost stage 1, made the split that later caught the leaders before the race really hotted up and the splits started to appear in the lined out peloton.

Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step), Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) and Oscar Gatto (Cannondale) broke away from the leaders following the final intermediate sprint and the trio had 26” over the chasers with 16 kilometres left to race.

It wasn’t enough and the trio were caught just 3km from the finish thanks to good cooperation in the chase group and strong legs. The selection which included big name sprinters like Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano), Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr), and Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida), then began to fight for sprint position.

With teammates in the group, Sacha Modolo was carried to the launch pad where his kick and sprint were too good for some of the best in the business. “All I had to do, after the perfect job by Cimolai and Richeze in leading me out, was to win and I succeeded in doing it: I’m so happpy! – Modolo said.

“Today I had good feelings, I could pass Kemmelberg in fourth position with two important team mates by my side in the head group. In the approach to Koksijde, I felt a little bit tired, but I noticed that my opponents were tired too. I was only worried by Demare, whose team mates worked at the head of the group, but when Cimolai and Richeze start the sprint, all my worries were left behind”.

Gatto denied the icing on top by Quickstep
After second on stage 1 and making the break on stage 2, Oscar Gatto was still the bridesmade at the end of the day. Omega Pharma – Quick-Step set themselves up well for the final day of VDK Driedaagse de Panne – Koksijde.

Through challenging, and winning, the intermediate sprints, Gert Steegmans took the GC lead by 1″ while Niki Terpstra also took 3″ for taking a bonus sprint. Five OPQS riders, including Andrew Fenn were part of the selection. Whilst Terpstra tried hard for the stage, that didn’t work out and the new race leader Steegmans was Quicksteps best on stage in 12th.

Milan San Remo winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was unable to repeat the sprint that won him that Monument but was pleased with third. “Third is not bad but of course I was hoping for the win after the nice work from the team. My teammates did a great job. It was not the perfect sprint, not smooth. I was a little bit blocked, but I have a good feeling. Waregem and Gent – Wevelgem were not super for me but yesterday was ok. Today I felt already much better. It looks good.”

Stage 2
1 MODOLO Sacha Lampre – Merida 04:28:15
2 DéMARE Arnaud FDJ.fr
3 KRISTOFF Alexander Team Katusha
4 TLEUBAYEV Ruslan Astana Pro Team
5 NAPOLITANO Danilo Wanty – Groupe Gobert
6 COLLI Daniele Neri Sottoli
7 BAZZANA Alessandro UnitedHealthcare
8 KITTEL Marcel Team Giant-Shimano
9 VANBILSEN Kenneth Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
10 CANOLA Marco Bardiani – CSF

17 GATTO Oscar Cannondale
18 DURBRIDGE Luke Orica GreenEDGE
20 TERPSTRA Niki Omega Pharma – Quick-Step
29 FENN Andrew Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 00:05
31 PAOLINI Luca Team Katusha 01:17
70 RENSHAW Mark Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 3.17
127 THWAITES Scott Team NetApp – Endura

OVERALL

1 STEEGMANS Gert Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 10 08:57:45
2 GATTO Oscar Cannondale 00:01
3 VANBILSEN Kenneth Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise 00:03
4 TERPSTRA Niki Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 00:05
5 FINETTO Mauro Neri Sottoli 00:09
6 JEROME Vincent Team Europcar
7 VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume Omega Pharma – Quick-Step
8 DéMARE Arnaud FDJ.fr 00:14
9 DURBRIDGE Luke Orica GreenEDGE 00:20
10 KRISTOFF Alexander Team Katusha 00:24

28 FENN Andrew Omega Pharma – Quick-Step 00:33
112 THWAITES Scott Team NetApp – Endura 16.36

 

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