Cofidis' Gert Joeaar won the prologue stage of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen.
This three day race in the West Vlaanderen area of Belgium started with a day at the seaside town of Middelkerke.on the North Sea coast, west of Ostend.
Riccardo Stacchiotti of the Vini Fantini team was the first rider down the ramp and tacking a seven kilometre course.
His finish time of 8.34 was soon beaten by a number of riders including Cofidis' Christophe Laporte who set a new fastest time of 8.13.
That lasted until just after 2.51pm local time when Thomas De Gendt of Omega Pharma Quick Step finished in 8.11 and then Trek Factory's Jess Sergent came home in 8.08.
Stijn Devolder of Trek Factory racing then beat his team-mates time by five seconds to take over the lead.
Devolder looked to be taking the win when Cofidis' Gert Joeaar flew home in 7.53 with FDJ's Johan Le Bon finishing in 7.53 and last man down the ramp Kristian Vandewalle finishing in 8.01, Devolder was in fourth place.
Result
1 Joeaar 7:53
2 Le Bon +5
3 Vandewalle +8
4 Devolder +11
5 Dillier +14
6 Sergent +15
7 Van Keirsbulck +16
8 Ghyselinck +16