Sylvain Chavanel wins the final stage and the overall classifications at the VDK-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde
Sylvain Chavanel of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step opened his 2012 winning account after claiming the stage 3b of the VDK-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde.
The cyclist finished the 14.7 kilometre race in a fastest time of 17 minutes and 49 seconds and achieved the first overall spot.
Lieuwe Westra of Team Vacansoleil-DCM fell 4 seconds short to grab the second position.
Svein Tuft of Team GreenEdge, Niki Terpstra of Team Omega Pharma-QuickStep and Maciej Bodnar of Team Liquigas-Cannondale landed on the next four spots.
The French was amongst the only few victory-less cyclists left in Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step.
His performance during the final stage of the event has now further strengthened the team’s position.
Chavanel was delighted after the stage win and thanked his team for its support throughout the four stages of the race.
"First of all I am super happy with this victory, this year I did not win until now and a lot of our riders have already won".
"It was a little disappointing that I was riding well but unable to win a race. I am also happy because this victory came at a time trial".
"Now we are starting to see some results. I was 4th in Argentina, 6th in the Stage 1 Paris-Nice time trial, so I am reaching my objectives with my time trial bike," he concluded.
The 32-year-old also claimed the first overall position after the final general classifications.
He finished the race in a cumulative time of 12 hours, 5 minutes and 44 seconds to grab his first overall victory of the season.
Lieuwe Westra of Team Vacansoleil-DCM fell four seconds short and grabbed the second podium position.
Maciej Bodnar, Svein Tuft, Niki Terpstra and Jesse Sergent finished at the third, fourth, fifth and sixth positions in the respective order.
Alexander Kristoff topped the point’s classifications with a total number of 42 points in his pocket with Jacopo Guarnieri and Kenny Robert achieving the second and third positions.
Andy Cappelle claimed the sprint classifications while Tosh Van Der Sande was awarded with the mountains classifications category of the race.
Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step achieved the first positions at the team’s classifications and has further improved its 2012 UCI ranking.
Team GreenEdge, Team RadioShack-Nissan, Team Katusha and Team Europcar grabbed the next four spots after the final team’s classifications.
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