Julien Vermote wins Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen as Michal Kwiatkowski is dropped
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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Julien Vermote wins Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen as Michal Kwiatkowski is dropped

by Ben Atkins at 12:35 PM EST   comments
Categories: Pro Cycling, Race Reports and Results
 
Arnaud Démare takes win number three of first pro season as yellow jersey passes from one Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider to another

Julien VermoteJulien Vermote (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took his first victory as a professional, as he secured the overall classification of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen - Johan Museeuw Classics. The 21-year-old Belgian profited from teammate, and previous race leader Michal Kwiatkowski’s inability to stay with the peloton on the three laps of a hilly 11km finishing circuit at the end of the second and final stage between Nieuwpoort and Ichtegem.

The wet and windy 186.5km stage was won by World under-23 champion Arnaud Démare (FDJ-BigMat), taking the third victory of his first pro-season, ahead of Alexander Porsev (Katusha) and Kenny van Hummel (Vacansoleil-DCM), after a large breakaway group was pulled back with 26km to go.

The pace set by the peloton was too much for Kwiatkowski, who left the fight for the overall to teammates Vermote, and Guillaume Van Keirsbulcke, who started the day in fourth place. Unfortunately for the latter, a puncture with just four kilometres to go saw him also lose contact with the peloton, but Vermote finished safely in the front group to secure victory.

"I really didn’t expect to win the race," said Vermote. "I’m really sad for Michal, he didn’t win only because of bad luck; but we are a fantastic team here, everybody sacrificed themselves for the team result.

“In any case I’m happy I can prove my skills,” he continued. “Last year was hard for me but [team manager Patrick] Lefevere and the team left me relaxed. They were always confident in me, which is the best thing for a young rider as me. It was also nice to win in my home country; a special emotion, you can believe me! Tomorrow I will leave to South Africa for the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. I think I will really enjoy my trip after this victory"

After a flurry of early attacks, David Boucher (FDJ-BigMat), Aitor Galdos (Caja Rural), Julien Bérard (AG2R La Mondiale), Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Christopher Juul Jensen (Saxo Bank), Baptiste Planckaert (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) and Andy Cappelle (Accent Jobs-Willems Vérandas) escaped at the 15km point. The seven-man group was able to open up a lead of up to 4’30” on the long opening loop, which took in the Gent-Wevelgem climbs of the Monteberg and the Kemmelberg.

After the top of the mythical cobbled climb the peloton steadily reeled them in but, with 45km to go, before they could be captured, ten more riders counterattacked and joined them at the front of the race.

In this group were a number of the overall classification leaders, including Van Keirsbulck, with Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammates Mattéo Trentin and Andy Fenn, along with Tyler Farrar and Jack Bauer (both Garmin-Barracuda).

Van Keirsbulck was now the leader on the road, with second place behind Fenn as they crossed the finish line for the first time, adding to his security. The peloton was all together before the end of the first lap however, but Kwiatkowski was nowhere to be seen.

"It was really a terrible day due to the weather conditions," Vermote explained. "When the group broke into two parts I remained behind with Michal. When I realized that Michal could lose the race I put him in my wheel and we made a terrific effort to come back; we went really fast.

“When we were really nearly to close the gap, Michal crashed in a roundabout,” he continued. “At that point I had no choice and I went alone. On the road I found Francesco Chicchi and Matthew Brammeier who helped me to complete the chase. Then the guys were super. Guillaume and Andy Fenn worked hard controlling the race and in the last part of the race, Matteo Trentin controlled everything. He was super strong.”

With the peloton back all together again, it was controlled by the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team, and none of the inevitable attacks could get away. By the time it reached the finishing straight it was down to just 56 riders however, where Démare showed his early season speed once again.

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Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen Stage 3 Results

  Click on the arrowsat the top of the column to sort the race results.
Country Result Name Team Time
fra FRA 1 Arnaud Demare (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) 04:35:48
rus RUS 2 Alexander Porsev (Katusha Team) s.t.
ned NED 3 Kenny Van Hummel (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t.
bel BEL 4 Niko Eeckhout (An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S...) s.t.
ita ITA 5 Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t.
aus AUS 6 Luke Roberts (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
gbr GBR 7 Ben Swift (Sky Procycling) s.t.
fra FRA 8 Jimmy Casper (Ag2R - La Mondiale) s.t.
esp ESP 9 Egoitz García Etxegibel (Cofidis - Le Credit En Ligne) s.t.
fra FRA 10 Nacer Bouhanni (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t.
aut AUT 11 Marco Haller (Katusha Team) s.t.
bel BEL 12 Maxime Vantomme (Katusha Team) s.t.
bel BEL 13 Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t.
fra FRA 14 Saïd Haddou (Europcar) s.t.
ned NED 15 Michel Kreder (Team Garmin - Barracuda) s.t.
ltu LTU 16 Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S...) s.t.
can CAN 17 Zach Bell (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t.
fra FRA 18 Matthieu Ladagnous (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t.
bel BEL 19 Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t.
ita ITA 20 Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t.
bel BEL 21 Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t.
rus RUS 22 Nikolay Trusov (Team Rusvelo) s.t.
nzl NZL 23 Jack Bauer (Team Garmin - Barracuda) s.t.
ita ITA 24 Salvatore Puccio (Sky Procycling) s.t.
fra FRA 25 Jérôme Cousin (Europcar) s.t.
bel BEL 26 Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t.
ned NED 27 Dylan Van Baarle (Rabobank Continental Team) s.t.
por POR 28 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Caja Rural) s.t.
rus RUS 29 Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha Team) s.t.
ned NED 30 Yoeri Havik (Cycling Team De Rijke) s.t.
bel BEL 31 Dennis Vanendert (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t.
bel BEL 32 Sebastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t.
bel BEL 33 Arthur Vanoverberghe (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t.
gbr GBR 34 Luke Rowe (Sky Procycling) s.t.
ita ITA 35 Marcello Pavarin (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t.
bel BEL 36 Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t.
nzl NZL 37 Jesse Sergent (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t.
rus RUS 38 Petr Ignatenko (Katusha Team) s.t.
gbr GBR 39 Jeremy Hunt (Sky Procycling) s.t.
fra FRA 40 David Boucher (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t.
bel BEL 41 Evert Verbist (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t.
bel BEL 42 Frederique Robert (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t.
bel BEL 43 Rob Goris (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t.
gbr GBR 44 Mark Mcnally (An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S...) s.t.
fra FRA 45 Sébastien Turgot (Europcar) s.t.
usa USA 46 Tyler Farrar (Team Garmin - Barracuda) s.t.
lux LUX 47 Ben Gastauer (Ag2R - La Mondiale) s.t.
bel BEL 48 Sander Cordeel (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t.
fra FRA 49 Florian Vachon (Bretagne Schuller) s.t.
den DEN 50 Troels Ronning Vinther (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
ned NED 51 Bobbie Traksel (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t.
swe SWE 52 Michael Olsson (Team CykelCity.se) s.t.
can CAN 53 Keven Lacombe (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t.
aus AUS 54 Jonathan Cantwell (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
sui SUI 55 Oliver Zaugg (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t.
fra FRA 56 Geoffrey Soupe (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t.
fra FRA 57 Renaud Dion (Bretagne Schuller) 00:00:31
fra FRA 58 Johan Le Bon (Bretagne Schuller) s.t.
can CAN 59 Ryan Roth (Spidertech Powered By C10) s.t.
ned NED 60 Stefan Van Dijk (Accent.jobs – Willems Veranda’s) s.t.
swe SWE 61 Johan Landstrom (Team CykelCity.se) s.t.
ned NED 62 Dirk Bellemakers (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t.
bel BEL 63 Koen Barbe (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) s.t.
col COL 64 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Sky Procycling) s.t.
ned NED 65 Barry Markus (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t.
den DEN 66 Christopher Juul-jensen (Team Saxo Bank) 00:00:41
usa USA 67 Matthew Busche (RadioShack - Nissan) 00:00:55
ger GER 68 Ruben Zepuntke (Rabobank Continental Team) s.t.
bel BEL 69 Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t.
usa USA 70 Jacob Rathe (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 00:01:28
bel BEL 71 Niels Wytinck (An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S...) 00:01:37
ned NED 72 Ivar Slik (Rabobank Continental Team) s.t.
ned NED 73 Jasper Bovenhuis (Rabobank Continental Team) s.t.
ned NED 74 Oscar Riesebeek (Rabobank Continental Team) s.t.
swe SWE 75 Robert Pölder (Team CykelCity.se) s.t.
fra FRA 76 Jean Luc Delpech (Bretagne Schuller) 00:01:41
usa USA 77 Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) s.t.
ned NED 78 Bert-jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team) s.t.
fra FRA 79 Julien Fouchard (Cofidis - Le Credit En Ligne) 00:01:44
fra FRA 80 Adrien Petit (Cofidis - Le Credit En Ligne) 00:01:55
fra FRA 81 Julien Berard (Ag2R - La Mondiale) 00:02:37
bel BEL 82 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) 00:03:12
den DEN 83 Jakob Fuglsang (RadioShack - Nissan) s.t.
bel BEL 84 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t.
fra FRA 85 Franck Bouyer (Europcar) s.t.
bel BEL 86 Stijn Neirynck (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) s.t.
gbr GBR 87 Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) 00:03:31
swe SWE 88 Edwin Wilson (Team CykelCity.se) 00:03:51
bel BEL 89 Baptiste Planckaert (Landbouwkrediet - Euphony) 00:05:06
ned NED 90 Mats Boeve (Cycling Team De Rijke) 00:05:12
aho AHO 91 Marc De Maar (UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis) 00:06:43
esp ESP 92 Benjamin Gonzalez Noval (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
rus RUS 93 Boris Shpilevsky (Ag2R - La Mondiale) s.t.
arg ARG 94 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
isr ISR 95 Ran Margaliot (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
jpn JPN 96 Takashi Miyazawa (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
bel BEL 97 Sebastien Rosseler (Team Garmin - Barracuda) s.t.
slo SLO 98 Gregor Gazvoda (Ag2R - La Mondiale) s.t.
bel BEL 99 Romain Zingle (Cofidis - Le Credit En Ligne) s.t.
ned NED 100 Brian Bulgac (Lotto - Belisol Team) s.t.
esp ESP 101 Igor Romero Etxebarria (Caja Rural) s.t.
esp ESP 102 Javier Francisco Aramendia Lorente (Caja Rural) s.t.
rus RUS 103 Nikita Eskov (Team Rusvelo) s.t.
ned NED 104 Jenning Huizenga (Rabobank Continental Team) s.t.
ned NED 105 Wesley Kreder (Rabobank Continental Team) s.t.
ger GER 106 Robert Wagner (RadioShack - Nissan) 00:06:52

Top 10 on Final General Classification

Country Result Name Team Time
bel BEL 1 Julien Vermote (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) 08:58:15
nzl NZL 2 Jesse Sergent (RadioShack - Nissan) 00:00:06
rus RUS 3 Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha Team) 00:00:09
nzl NZL 4 Jack Bauer (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 00:00:10
usa USA 5 Tyler Farrar (Team Garmin - Barracuda) 00:00:11
fra FRA 6 Matthieu Ladagnous (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) 00:00:14
aus AUS 7 Luke Roberts (Team Saxo Bank) s.t.
ltu LTU 8 Gediminas Bagdonas (An Post-M. Donnelly-Grant Thornton - S...) 00:00:17
fra FRA 9 Arnaud Demare (Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat) s.t.
ita ITA 10 Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) s.t.

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