Team News: DePanne – Win 2 for Kristoff

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Alexander Kristoff wins his seventh race of the 2015 season on stage 2 of the Three Days De Panne at Koksijde

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Team News: DePanne – Win 2 for Kristoff

It was a repeat performance from Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff on Wednesday when the Norwegian fast man took the sprint from the front to make it back-to-back wins in Belgium.

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Photos: © Tim De Waele / Team Katusha

“I must really thank my team today. I did not feel so strong but in the end they delivered me perfectly and I could take it home. It was quite technical finale at the end and I lost Jacopo a little bit so I was on Sacha Modolo’s wheel and could start from his wheel. I was leading from the front for a long time and no one could come around so it was a nice victory. I knew it was a hard race today and there would not be many fresh legs at the end. I will try to keep the jersey but the real goal is on Sunday” said Alexander Kristoff, referring to Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Rounding out the stage 2 podium were Elia Viviani (Sky) and Shane Archbold of Bora-Argon 18.

It was his seventh personal victory of the 2015 season, plus three other top-3 finishes, demonstrating his racing consistency thus far. With the 10-second time bonuses helping to widen the gap, Kristoff wears the leader’s jersey by 16-seconds to Stijn Devolder (Trek Factory Racing) and 17-seconds to Lars Bak of Lotto-Soudal. His advantage widens significantly to almost one minute for general classification hopefuls, which bodes well for Kristoff’s chances of earning the overall race win.

Wednesday’s stage 2 in Three Days of De Panne was a long 217,2 km from Zottegem to Koksijde. A series of small climbs were part of the profile midway through the course, but wind was the primary obstacle facing the riders today as once again it made for aggressive racing with many breaks and splits in the peloton. The final break of three were swept up in the closing kilometers as the sprinters made their way to the front for the group gallop.

Thursday brings a double-dose of cycling fun with an early road stage of 111,4 km in De Panne, followed by an afternoon time trial at 14,2 km in Tijdrit that will close out the 2015 Driedaagse De Panne – Koksijde.

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1 Alexander Kristoff Team Katusha 5:33:32
2 Elia Viviani Team Sky
3 Shane Archbold Bora-Argon 18
4 Antoine Demoitie Wallonie – Bruxelles
5 Sacha Modolo Lampre-Merida
6 Kristian Sbaragli MTN – Qhubeka
7 Raymond Kreder Team Roompot
8 Mark Renshaw Etixx – Quick-Step
9 Magnus Cort Nielsen Orica GreenEdge
10 Rafael Andriato Southeast

21 Andrew Fenn Team Sky
34 Bradley Wiggins Team Sky
94 Matt BRAMMEIER MTN – Qhubeka
129 Russell Downing Cult Energy Pro Cycling
DNF Scott Thwaites Bora-Argon 18

OVEALL
1 Alexander Kristoff Team Katusha 9:32:43
2 Stijn Devolder Trek Factory Racing 0:00:16
3 Lars Ytting Bak Lotto Soudal 0:00:17
4 Sean De Bie Lotto Soudal 0:00:20
5 Sven Erik Bystrøm Team Katusha 0:00:26
6 Elia Viviani Team Sky 0:00:48
7 Gerry Druyts Vastgoedservice – Golden Palace Continental Team 0:00:50
8 Stefan Küng BMC Racing Team 0:00:52
9 Sacha Modolo Lampre-Merida 0:00:54
10 Kristian Sbaragli MTN – Qhubeka

31 Bradley Wiggins Team Sky
68 Adam Blythe Orica GreenEdge
81 Matt BRAMMEIER MTN – Qhubeka 0:07:25
114 Russell Downing Cult Energy Pro Cycling

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