British rider Scott Twaites of the Team Net App-Endura finished third on the first stage of the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen in Belgian.
Stage One was from Bruge to Harelbeke and Eduard Michael Grosu (Vini Fantini Nippo), Julien Duval (Roubaix Lille Metropole), Laurens De Vreese (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) were straight to the fore on this 182.9km stage.
They took a five minute lead but the peloton was unforgiving and as they closed in, the escapers split. This proved to be their downfall and with fifty kilometres remaining, they had been caught.
Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Belisol) and Alphonse Vermote (Vastgoedservice-Golden Palace) were next to try their luck and this time, they were successful.
With a 25 second lead, Vermote decided to go it alone and he was able to stay away.
Vermote stayed clear until the final four kilometres when the peloton finally got to him and set up a bunch sprint which Danny Van Poppel of Trek Factory Racing won in a time of 4.14.21 beating off the challenge of Danilo Napolitano (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Scott Thwaites (Team NetApp-Endura).
Estonian Gert Joeaar of the Cofidis team leads the race going into the final stage with a five second lead of Johan Le Bon of FDJ. Danny Van Poppel who got fifteen points for winning the stage, leads the Young Riders and Points competition.