After his ninth place on yesterday’s second stage, Tinkoff’s young sprinter Erik Baška went one place better to take eighth this morning at Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde, a short 111.5km split stage with the final individual time trial to follow this afternoon. After an early break of six, the stage was quite steady in comparison to those previous, and despite a hectic final few kilometres it was a relatively straight forward stage for the team.
“It was another strong sprint from Erik to finish eighth, he was in the mix but he lacked a bit of positioning at the end which limited what he could do,” explained Sport Director Tristan Hoffman after the finish in De Panne. “There was a break from the start and very little wind today, with quite large roads that weren’t too technical so it was much steadier than the last two days. The guys fought well to look after Erik and to bring him into position for the final few kilometres and he did a good job again at finding the wheels to follow.”
The early break of six riders build a relatively strong advantage but with the peloton behind hungry for another sprint their chances of staying clear were again slim, and with six kilometres to race the peloton was all back together. With the sprinters’ teams battling for position at the front of the bunch there was still room for a late attack, but at 2km to go this was also neutralised setting up the second sprint in two days.
With the peloton racing through built up town roads there was always the potential for crashes, and there were a few, but the Tinkoff riders came away without too many problems. Michael Kolar was involved in the final crash through one of the late right hand corners but was able to jump back on the bike and finish safely, while ahead Erik was fighting for position in the sprint.
Hoffman was levelled in his analysis of the stage, reminding us of the early stage of Erik’s career. “I’m happy to see that he’s fighting and giving it everything here, and we can’t forget that he’s still a neo-pro and still has a lot to learn. He still has to build his engine and to gain more experience in the bigger races, and he’s learning that here. Races like this are good for young guys like him for finding your way in the peloton and learning to fight against the big guys.”
The final individual time trial this afternoon will take the riders around De Panne over a 14.2km course. Maciej Bodnar came into the race looking for a strong finish in the overall classification, but after losing time on the opening stage he has switched his focus to a big ride on this last stage.
“Bodnar is focused on going full gas this afternoon,” Hoffman said when looking at the course. “The route is the same as previous years and isn’t too technical apart from three U-turns. The roads are nice and there aren’t any cobblestones to contend with so we hope that he will have a good race this afternoon. The other guys will all finish the race and then for those that are starting Flanders on Sunday the focus will turn to recovery ahead of that.”
Stage 3a Result
1. Marcel Kittel (GER) Etixx-Quickstep 2:27:03
2. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bora-Argon 18 +00:00:00
3. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Katusha +00:00:00
4. Amaury Capiot (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise +00:00:00
5. Luka Mezgec (SLO) Orica-GreenEDGE +00:00:00
8. Erik Baška (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:00
35. Nikolay Trusov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:00
44. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:00
54. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:00
56. Michael Kolar (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:00
64. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:00
GC after Stage 3a
1. Alexander Kristoff (NOR) Katusha 11:50:25
2. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana +00:00:07
3. Lieuwe Westra (NED) Astana +00:00:12
17. Juraj Sagan (SVK) Tinkoff +00:00:52
19. Nikolay Trusov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:52
76. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:13:31
80. Erik Baška (SVK) Tinkoff +00:14:38
87. Michael Kolar (SVK) Tinkoff +00:14:38
88. Maciej Bodnar (POL) Tinkoff +00:14:38
