The Italian Champion was third at the 43rd edition of the Belgian race.
This year, Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne made its World Tour debut and Deceuninck – Quick-Step came at the start with a strong team rallied around defending champion Elia Viviani, who relied on Kasper Asgreen and Iljo Keisse to control the six-man breakaway that decided to animate the 200.3km-long race which had the riders face five cobblestone segments and five hills before the flat circuit around De Panne.
Deceuninck – Quick-Step were prominent at the front of the bunch at all times, chasing both the sextet and the five riders that had attacked with more than 90 kilometers to go, over the top of the Kemmelberg, the hardest hill on the course. Once that late move was brought to heel, things calmed down until the final ten kilometers, when a crash occurred as the road narrowed split the peloton, taking several riders out of contention and leaving Elia without the services of Florian Sénéchal, caught behind the pile-up.
Asgreen and Keisse didn’t have any problems when it came to reeling in the survivors of the breakaway, before Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne victor Bob Jungels took over the reins, delivering Michael Mørkøv and Elia Viviani in the top 10 positions under the flamme rouge. Viviani came off the Dane’s wheel with less than 200 meters to go, hitting out first, and sprinted to his seventh podium of the season, behind Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) and Fernando Gaviria (Team UAE Emirates).
“The plan was to control the race and the boys did just that, so a big thanks is in order. Unfortunately, we lost Florian before the finish in that incident and that meant that we had to change the plan, so Bob took a really long pull as we entered in the last kilometer. Michael did a perfect lead-out and I sprinted in the last 175 meters, but two other guys were faster today. Still, a podium in a World Tour race is not bad and this result shows that the legs are there for Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem”, Elia explained after coming in the top 3 at Driedaagse Brugge-De Panne for the second year in a row.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
