Juraj Sagan (younger brother of Peter Sagan) raced to eighth place on the opening day of the Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde, a tough, windy 198.2km stage taking the riders from the coastal town of De Panne down to Zottegem over 11 Hellingen, including two ascents of the infamous Muur van Geraardsbergen.
The six Tinkoff riders starting the race lined up under grey, threatening skies, with the atmosphere at the start one of high emotion with a minute’s silence following the passing of two riders from the peloton in the past days. But once the flag was dropped the thoughts soon turned to the road ahead with a fast and frantic pace set splitting the peloton into groups in the crosswinds from the off.
The situation on the road was constantly changing with crosswinds causing havoc in the bunch, and splitting the race into groups, but Tinkoff’s leader heading into the race, Maciej Bodnar, started strongly making a front selection before eventually slipping back into the groups behind, paying the price for a tough start.
Sport Director at the race, Lars Michaelsen spoke of the hectic start to the race. “Today’s stage was nearly 200km of racing on tough Flandrian roads, starting with a 16km neutral section and then straight from the gun the race split in crosswinds and echelons making for hard work for everyone. For a time we had Bodnar in the front group but he ran out of legs and lost contact with the group. In the group behind we had Juraj Sagan and Nikolay Trusov and they were able to stay with this group as it thinned down throughout the day.”
The race steadied behind a leading group of 14, and into the final 50km these leaders had just over a minute’s advantage on a reunited chasing bunch. The situation remained stable with the leaders holding a minute into the final 30km before the decisive move came at the front. Four riders broke clear and soon pulled ahead, being reduced to three that would eventually dispute the stage win amongst themselves, while behind the reduced peloton kept chasing hard, thinning further over the second ascent of the Muur van Geerardsbergen before racing into Zottegem to sprint out fifth place, behind the three leaders and two more who managed to stay clear. A strong sprint from Juraj saw him take third from this main group, 36 seconds behind the stage winner and race leader, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).
“It was a hard, hard day for everyone out there today,” said a tired Juraj Sagan after the finish. “From the start the race was broken in crosswinds, after the first kilometres. Bodnar tried hard up front but I’m not too sure what happened as it was really hectic. I was behind the break with Trusov, and at the end I managed to get third from the bunch. Coming into the finish there were some turns but everyone was really tired so it was hard. I’m happy with my result but we came here looking for a GC result which will be difficult now. We will refocus and look at the coming days – we are in Belgium and anything can happen.”
Michaelsen concluded by saying: “Juraj taking third in the bunch sprint was a real positive note for us today. We’re out of the GC fight with Bodnar now, so for the coming days we will look to seize the opportunities as they come – we have guys here that can sprint and so there will be chances for us to shine.”
Stage 1 Result
1. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Katusha 4:22:34
2. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana +00:00:00
3. Lieuwe Westra (NED) Astana +00:00:00
4. Mads Pedersen (DEN) Team Stölting Service Group +00:00:29
5. Luke Rowe (GBR) Team Sky +00:00:29
8. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:36
27. Nikolay Trusov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:36
100. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:13:15
110. Michael Kolar (SVK) Tinkoff +00:14:22
113. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:14:22
114. Erik Baška (SVK) Tinkoff +00:14:22
GC After Stage 1
1. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Katusha 4:22:24
2. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana +00:00:01
3. Lieuwe Westra (NED) Astana +00:00:06
12. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:46
28. Nikolay Trusov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:46
100. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:13:25
110. Michael Kolar (SVK) Tinkoff +00:14:32
113. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:14:32
114. Erik Baška (SVK) Tinkoff +00:14:32
