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Driedaagse De Panne Photos March 29 - 31

« Driedaagse De Panne 2011 Live Dashboard


Stage 1:  Middelkerke-Zottegem  Full Results and Report

Katusha's Filippo Pozzato and Leif Hoste in better spirits prior to the start in Middelkerke. Leif Hoste later abandoned the race with facial injuries suffered in a crash

Start panoramic in Middelkerke

The hilly, narrow roads generated numerous breaks...


... and strung out the peloton. Michael Barry leading the chase for Team Sky

The Sporza helicopter filming and relaying today's excellent coverage

Like Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday, the weather was perfect in Belgium

Andre Griepel gapped the break in the final several hundred meters as the peloton can do no more than catch on

The finish in Zottegem, a rare break appearance by Andre Griepel pays off

Omega Pharma-Lotto's Andre Griepel wins an exciting finish to stage 1 ahead of Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM

Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team RadioShack crossed third with the peloton just behind

“I’m tired now. But it’s good to try something different. It was a special way to win.”

Stage 2:  Oudenaarde → Koksijde, 210 km  Full Results and Report


The Ronde van Vlaanderen Museum in Oudenaarde (today's start host) with Velo Eddy Merckx parked out front

A motorhome convention or the stage 2 staging area?

The Belgian National Champ, Vacansoleil's Stijn Devolder has signed in and is ready to roll

An early solo break by an optimistic Landbouwkrediet rider

The peloton coming through the forest

The break that got away on the first climb of the day (km 20: Tiegemberg). Left to right: Mickaël Delage (FDJ), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), Rony Martias (Saur-Sojasun), Steven Caethoven (Veranda’s Willems) and Howard Leigh (HTC-Highroad)

Later, after the climbs and the winds of the North Sea, these riders formed a break on the finishing circuits in Koksijde

HTC-Highroad working to bring the race back together for either Mark Renshaw or John Degenkolb

The sprint finish with 50m to go with 4th place finisher Tomas Vaitkus (Astana) at the front in a headwind

Katusha's Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) has moved into the lead

1st Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha Team, 2nd John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad and 3rd Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale

After numerous close calls earlier in the year, Denis Galimzyanov gets to celebrate a win

Pre-race favorite, Bradley Wiggins (Sky), in addition to race leader Andre Greipel were dropped when the peloton split on the hills and then crosswinds of the North Sea. He finished over 5 minutes back.

The winner on his way to the winner's circle

In fact, today was Denis Galimzyanov's first pro win

The new race leader, Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM, has a slim lead heading into the final day with a road stage in the morning and an individual time trial in the afternoon

Stage 3:  De Panne Stage 3a RR and 3b ITT  Full Results and Report


Some bad Belgian weather today on the circuits in De Panne during the morning stage 3a

The 50 man sprint finish

Jacopo Guarnieri (Liquigas-Cannondale) wins ahead of yesterday's winner Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) in a photo finish

Jacopo Guarnieri's decision to jump early pays off despite the headwind

As Denis Galimzyanov continues to throw his bike, Jacopo Guarnieri is already in his victory salute back swing



“The wind was very strong and against us,” Guarnieri told Cyclingnews afterwards. “I was riding in fourth or fifth position and then I went from quite early, with around 350m to go. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to hold it until the finish but I had really good legs.”

Bert De Backer (Bel) of Skil - Shimano briefly became the race leader heading into the afternoon time trial stage.

Moving onto the afternoon's decisive (to say the least) Stage 3b ITT: The Belgian Sébastien Rosseler (RadioShack)...

... won the 14.7 km ITT in 18:31

Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM was disappointed with second + 14s

Rosseler's RadioShack teammate Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) was 3rd + 14s as well

Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quickstep was 4th + 18s

The race leader after the morning stage 3a, Bert de Backer (Skil-Shimano), placed 28th + 1:44

Your Stage 3b winner, Sébastien Rosseler (RadioShack)...

... and your overall winner

The 10 top from Stage 3b were the 10 top on GC as well: 3rd 3 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) RadioShack + 00:14, 1st Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) RadioShack 12:21:33, 2nd Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM + 00:06