Lunging at just the right time and pipping Jimmy Casper by the smallest of margins, the 40 year old An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly team rider Niko Eeckhout galloped to victory on the final stage of the Three Days of West Flanders today.
The former Belgian champion was one of 21 riders who went clear half an hour into the stage to Ichtegem. Over the course of the remaining 175 kilometers, this group rode hard to stave off the pursuit of the peloton. It was whittled down to 16 by the finish due to the pace.
There, Eeckhout was the quickest in the sprint to the line, finishing ahead of Jimmy Casper (Saur - Sojasun), Dominique Rollin (FDJ) and the others. He finished the three day event eighth overall, 24 seconds behind day one winner Jesse Sergent (Team RadioShack).
“I said at the start of the season that Niko was looking sharp and today he proved it,” said team manager Kurt Bogaerts afterwards. “He had a lot of bad injuries last year and bad luck, but this year he has started so well and he is really an inspiration to the less experienced members of the team.”
By taking the prologue, Sergent led from start to finish. He was expected to come under attack on today’s final stage and so it happened, but two things were in his favour. Firstly, he made it into the break; secondly, he had his team-mates Sébastien Rosseler, Michal Kwiatkowski and Nélson Oliveira present and they all worked hard to safeguard his lead.
“It’s always better to be in the front than to chase the whole day, but that was not really my intention,” he explained after the stage. “I was just in the front to stay safe as we knew from Dirk Demol that, with all that wind, the peloton would split up in many parts. I didn’t want to be surprised.
“I never thought that we would stay in the front for 175 kilometres but we did because Oliveira, Rosseler and Kwiatkowski worked so hard for me today. It’s unreal what they did. It’s unreal what I have now too. I just won my first stage race as a pro rider.”
Sergent ended the three day race ten seconds ahead of his team-mates Sébastien Rosseler and Kwiatkowski.