Sean De Bie has won the Three Days of West Flanders.
The Lotto Soudal rider finished second on the final 182.7km stage from Nieuwpoort and Ichtegem (182.7 km behind Tim Dupont of Veranda's Willems Cycling Team which was enough to give him the overall title.
De Bie had started the stage some twelve seconds behind race leader Tom Bohil of BMC and he said to his team about his victory: “After the finish I was disappointed at first instance because I had missed out on the stage win, but soon I realized I had won the GC and of course I am over the moon now. In the sprint I maybe was too much focussed on Wisniowski who was only one second behind me on GC and whom I had to look out for.
“Our team raced at the front all day long. On the cobblestones in Diksmuide, at about fifty kilometres from the end, we raised the pace. The wind had made the race hard right from the beginning, after one hundred kilometres everybody was tired and when we set a higher pace the peloton split again. With four teammates we were part of a new front group of twenty. When entering the local circuit, with about forty kilometres to go, there was a rush. Tosh and I sprinted for the bonus seconds and then immediately forced a new selection. The new break had the perfect composition, with riders who were interested in GC and others who were keen on winning the stage.”
“My teammates all did a great job yesterday and today. After five kilometres echelons had been formed in this last stage. At first I wasn’t in the first group, but I remained calm. My teammates helped me to close the gap. Yesterday, they already led me to one of the rushes in a good position and today they did it again. Those seconds turned out to be very useful. Tosh was a great support in today’s finale. First as motor of the group and afterwards to keep an eye on my opponents.”