Philipe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floor's) wins 2017 Three Days De Panne,Panne, Belgium.

Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott) wins final time trial in De Panne, Belgium.

 Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) secured overall victory at the Three Days of De Panne thanks to taking seventh place in the final 14.2km time trial.

 Gilbert dominated the opening road stage on the cobbled Flemish climbs and his strong team helped him in the echelons on stage 2.
He started the final time trial with a lead of 50 seconds but rode as promised at 'full gas' to set a time of 17:55. That meant he won the three-day stage race by 38 seconds, beating Matthias Brandle (Trek-Segafredo) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin), who finished third at 43 seconds. Australia's Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott) won the flat and fast time trial around the sand dunes and seafront in De Panne as spectators enjoyed the early spring sun instead of the frequent wind and rain. Durbridge set a time of 17:38, with Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) a close second at just 0.77 of a second. Kristoff used his speed and power to finish third, while Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors), who won the morning road stage after a late puncture, performed well in the afternoon time trial by finishing fourth.
 Durbridge seemed set to challenge Gilbert for overall victory after riding well on stage 1 and finishing second behind Gilbert. However, he missed the important split on stage 2 and lost 2:39. His strong time trial lifted him to 11th in the final overall classification. "It's been a while since I had a victory. I can't even remember when, so it's special," he said, despite knowing it had been close with Chavanel. "A win is a win and so I'm pretty happy. I think it's one of the hardest time trials I've done here because we usually have a big roaring tail wind on the way home. But this time it was slog.
 I died a thousand deaths on the way home but I managed to hang on to it." Durbridge has shown some strong form in the cobbled Classics and will lead the Orica-Scott team in Sunday's Tour of Flanders. The Belgian Classic is the only monument that Orica-Scott has still to win. "I'm looking forward to Sunday and this is a boost for my confidence," he said.
 "My parents are coming from Australia and it'll be the first time they've ever seen me race in Europe. So it's a big motivation for me. This victory tops off a good week. I was a bit unlucky to miss out on GC but that's racing. I'm looking forward to Sunday and then the Sunday after (Paris-Roubaix)."

Greg Van Avermet (BMC) wins 2017 Gent-Wevelgem, Belgium.

Greg Van Avermet (BMC) wins 2017 Gent-Wevelgem in Deinze.

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) became the first rider since Jan Raas in 1981 to win Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem in the same season. The Belgian held off Orica-Scott's Jens Keukeleire with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) finishing in third. Van Avermaet, enjoying the best season of his career so far, was a cut above the opposition, having been a threat on the final ascent of the Kemmelberg and following the key moves – or making them himself – until forming a winning escape in the closing kilometres. It looked as though Sagan would be in contention to defend his 2016 crown when he Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors), and Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) created an impressive five-man group with Van Avermaet and Keukeleire with around 20 kilometres to go, but when Sagan and Niki Terpstra were unable to collaborate in the closing stages Keukeleire and Van Avermaet took their cue and opened up an unbridgeable gap. Despite a late chase from the world champion, Van Avermaet and Keukeleire entered the finishing straight with plenty of time to spare, and despite leading out from the front Van Avermaet had held off a plucky challenge from his fellow Belgian in the two-man sprint. Sagan crossed the line in third, visibly disappointed with how others had raced against him. As for Van Avermaet, the march towards the Tour of Flanders continues. "First, we rode away with a big group after the Kemmel and the co-operation wasn't 100 per cent. Then, we rode away with five riders and still the co-operation wasn't 100 per cent. There's always a few riders who want to save something, apparently. [split with Keukeleire…] I didn't know about it because I was just doing my pull in front, when Fabio was shouting in my ear that we were with the two of us. I had to hurry to get to the wheel of Jens," Van Avermaet said. "From there we kept going flat out. I suffered because it was full gas until the finish. We only had ten seconds. I preferred to ride to the finish with Jens then to do it with the three others….. I tried to keep cool and maybe did a bit too much work in the group of fourteen, but I was pleased that we were away to be in the group of five. It's better to work until three kilometres from the finish and maybe save some energy from there, instead of whining and waiting. At three kilometres from the finish it's possible to go off the gas but before I worked to stay ahead and win the race." How it unfolded The sun was out at the start of the 79th edition of Gent-Wevelgem in Deinze. The 200 riders lined up in the crowded Deinze market square and paid tribute to Antoine Demoitié before taking the start. Last year, Demoitié died following a crash and collision with a motorbike during the race. After a small loop in Deinze, the peloton headed west for the first of 246 kilometres, with a passage through De Moeren part of the route. The pace was extremely fast early on, averaging 50 km/h during the first hour. Nevertheless, a group of nine riders escaped the peloton with Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Dennis van Winden (Israel Cycling Academy), Elmar Reinders (Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij), Hugo Houle (AG2R La Mondiale), Ryan Mullen (Cannondale-Drapac), Mark McNally (Wanty Groupe - Gobert), Jay Thomson (Team Dimension Data), Loïc Chetout (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) and Christophe Masson (WB Veranclassic Aqua Protect). The gap quickly grew to six minutes with FDJ taking the lead in the peloton. As soon as the race hit the Catsberg, the peloton started splitting apart, partly due to the climbs but also because of the crashes on the narrow roads. After seven climbs, BMC used the crosswinds as a weapon and they accelerated, causing major damage in the peloton. The pace briefly dropped before the first ascent of the Kemmelberg with 75 kilometres remaining. The climb split the group with only Chetout and Van Hecke able to stay clear. Quick-Step Floors were quick to take the initiative. The gravel roads, a new feature of the race, saw Zdenek Stybar launch an attack on the first of three 'Plugstreets'. A few riders joined him and they bridged up to the former breakaway riders. In the peloton, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) punctured on the gravel roads and the Norwegian was forced to chase back. Just before the tenth climb of the day, the Baneberg, there was another crash in the peloton, near the front of the bunch. Katusha's Tony Martin, LottoNl-Jumbo's Tom Leezer and Sky's Gianni Moscon were among the casualties. Sagan narrowly escaped trouble, using his cyclo-cross skills to stay out of danger. Shortly thereafter, the peloton caught the riders off the front, resetting the race. On the final ascent of the Kemmelberg, Van Avermaet powered away. Sagan worked his way through traffic to join the Belgian rider in the move. John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Dimension Data), Stybar and Terpstra bridged on the descent. Sagan tried hard to keep a second group from bridging up but at 30 kilometres from the finish, Keukeleire, Kragh Andersen, Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale), Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors), Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida), Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac) and Scott Thwaites (Team Dimension Data) made contact. With 22 kilometres to go, the leaders rode through Ypres with a bonus of 30 seconds on the peloton but the co-operation was gone. Keukeleire was the first to attack. He was caught back, but then tried for a second time. This time he was joined by Van Avermaet. Sagan bridged up solo, as Terpstra and Andersen did the same a few moments later. The five leaders quickly established a 15-second lead on the chasers but with just over 15km to go Terpstra refused to come through after Sagan had taken a turn.
Van Avermaet and Keukeleire had little time or energy for games and as the world champion and former Paris-Roubaix winner held their own private stand-off, the two Belgians rode away, ultimately to contest the victory between themselves. Full Results

Top Ten Results.

1 Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) BMC Racing Team 5:39:05,
2 Jens Keukeleire (Belgium) Orica-Scott,
3 Peter Sagan (Slovakia) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06,
4 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floor's,
5 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo     6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick-Step Floors     7 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal     8 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb     9 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors     10 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Team UAE Emirates     11 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) WB

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) wins stage seven Volta Catalunya, Spain.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) wins Volta Catalunya stage seven and seal overall

title.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) underlined his crushing domination of the 2017 Volta a Catalunya this year with a superbly timed third and final stage win on Sunday, this time in a small group sprint in the Montjuic park in Barcelona. Already victorious this week in La Molina and the crucial summit finish of Lo Porto, in Barcelona the Movistar rider chased down a surging late attack by Dan Martin (Quick Step Floors) with just three kilometres remaining in the last of eight hilly laps in Montjuic. Valverde then fended off the bunch, headed in by Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo) by half a bike length for the seventh stage win of his career in the Volta. Valverde has now taken the Volta a Catalunya for a second time in his career, too, with his next big objectives the Ardennes Classics, where he also has multiple wins in Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. 1 Alejandro Valverde (Spain) Movistar Team 25:27:15, 2 Alberto Contador (Spain) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:03,   3 Marc Soler (Spain) Movistar Team 0:01:16,   4 Adam Yates (Great Britain) Orica-Scott 0:01:31,   5 Tejay Van Garderen (United State America) BMC Racing Team 0:01:34, 6 Daniel Martin (Ireland) Quick-Step Floor's 0:02:29,   7 Steven Kruijswijk (Netherland) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:02:56,  8 Carlos Verona (Spain) Orica-Scott 0:03:00,   9 George Bennett (NewZealand) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:03:01, 10 Romain Bardet (France) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:05,   11 Rafal Majka (Poland) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:33,   12 Davide Formolo (Italy) Cannondale-Drapac 0:05:14,   13 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Team UAE Emirates 0:05:39,   14 Daniel Navarro (Spain) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:07:57,   15 Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) Astana Pro Team 0:12:41.

Nacer Bouhani (Team Cofidis) sprints to Volta Catalunya stage Four victory in Igualada, Spain.

Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) wins Volta Catalunya stage four snow shortend stage in Igualada, Spain Road.

 Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) claimed the fourth stage of the Volta a Catalunya on Thursday, surviving a late second-category climb to sprint to victory in Igualada.
 After 134km of racing – the stage was shortened from 194km due to snow on the route – FDJ led the peloton into the finale for Davide Cimolai. Bouhanni, however, surged past the Italian with 150 metres to go to take a convincing win. Cimolai finished second, with Orica-Scott's Daryl Impey taking third. It was a welcome result for Bouhanni after Cimolai bested him on the opening day of the race.
 "I'm super happy with what the Cofidis team has done for me today and by helping me to win this race," said Bouhanni. "It was my fault on stage 1, I went too far out. I wasn't happy to lose by two centimetres and so I really wanted to win today. I did what I needed to do.

There was a brief skirmish in the GC battle going over the final climb, with Sky's Chris Froome and Movistar's Alejandro Valverde making it into a four-man escape on the descent, but an alert peloton snuffed the move out. BMC's Tejay van Garderen finished with the pack to retain his overall race lead ahead of Friday's mountainous fifth stage.

Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floor's) wins Dwars Door Vlanderen classic race 2017, Belgium Road.

Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floor's) wins 2017 Dwars Door Vlanderen Classic race.

Local boy Yves Lampaert capitalised on some top tactical work by Quick-Step Floors to take a solo victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen. Philippe Gilbert made it a double day of glory for the Belgian team, sprinting to second place from the three-man chasing group. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) rounded off the podium, beating Luke Durbridge (Orica-Scott) into third place.
 Quick-Step had two cards to play in the finale and found themselves with a royal flush when it came down to the crunch. Lampaert laid the heavy groundwork on the final climbs before an attack from Gilbert on the Paterberg forced the race-winning split. Lampaert was one of the only riders who had the legs to follow Gilbert, along with Lutsenko and Durbridge.
 The quartet worked well together, pulling out a gap of over a minute, which was helped by a lack of co-operation behind. Even with 10 kilometres remaining, it became clear that the winner of the race would come from the four out front.

They worked well together until Gilbert finally broke ranks on the final stretch of cobbles. No sooner was Gilbert brought back than Lampaert made his own move. Lampaert, who missed most of the Classics last season after injuring his Achilles when his girlfriend accidentally ran into him with a shopping trolley, had to fight hard to build the gap but he knew the roads and eventually won by 37 seconds over his teammate. "For me it's a dream that came true. It's not that far from my home and I did a lot of recons to do this race. To win, for me it's a fantastic gift that I can give to the team and thanks to everybody," Lampaert said.

Top Ten overrall finish Results:

 Yves Lampaert (Belgium) Quick-Step Floor's 4:47:26,   2 Philippe Gilbert (Belgium) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:39, 
3 Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakstan) Astana Pro Team,
4 Luke Durbridge (Australia) Orica-Scott, 5 Dylan Groenewegen (Netherland) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:03,
6 Oliver Naesen (Belgium) AG2R La Mondiale,
7 Tiesj Benoot (Belgium) Lotto Soudal,
8 Dylan Van Baarle (Netherland) Cannondale-Drapac     9 Mitch Docker (Australia) Orica-Scott,
10 Florian Senechal (France) Cofidis, Solutions Credits.

Alejandro Valverde (Team Movistar) wins stage three Volta Catalunya, Spain.

Movistar's Alejandro Valverde climbed to victory in the third stage of the Volta a Catalunya, besting (Quick-Step Floors') Dan Martin in the closing metres of La Molina.

 The Spaniard brought no shortage of motivation into the mountaintop finale after UCI commissaires penalised his entire Movistar team by one minute for the José Joaquin Rojas pushing incident in the stage 2 team time trial. The penalty denied Movistar the stage victory and also wiped out the advantage Valverde had gained over many of his top rivals with the team's performance against the clock, but Valverde clawed back some time at the La Molina summit. Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), who finished three seconds behind Valverde and Martin with several other general classification contenders, sits atop the GC after stage three.

Top Ten Generall classifications

Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 10:24:33,  
2 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:00:41,
3 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:44,
 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:45,   5 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:49,
 6 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:10,
7 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:13,
 8 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:01:18,
 9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:25 ,
10 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo

(Team Movistar) wins Volta Catalunya 43.1 Team Time Trial in Banyoles. Spain.

Alejandro Valverde and his Movistar team put in a winning display on stage 2 of the Volta a Catalunya, taking the 43.1 kilometre team time trial from Pla de l'Estany to Banyoles in a time of 48:55.

 Volta a Catalunya: Valverde takes lead as Rojas penalised for push in team time trial.
Contador still in GC hunt but 'a long way off' top rivals after Catalunya TTT The Spanish team finished two seconds clear of BMC Racing, with Chris Froome and Team Sky in third, 46 seconds down.
The win was not without controversy with Valverde’s teammate, Jose Rojas, stripped of the leader’s jersey after he was docked time for taking a push during the stage. Rojas had crossed the line at the front of the Movistar team and conducted both podium celebrations and television interviews before race judges intervened and docked the Spanish rider three minutes.
 The distance of the stage and the undulating parcours caused significant gaps in the overall standings.

Alberto Contador and Trek-Segafredo limited their losses well to finish fourth at 1:15, but Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) lost more than two minutes, and with that any likely hopes of finishing on the podium. Movistar were among the latter teams to start the stage, and it was Contador’s Trek-Segafredo unit that set the early pace with a respectable time of 50:10. The Spaniard, still searching for his maiden win in Trek colours, marshalled his troops well enough and they looked on course for a podium spot until Team Sky and Movistar came through the finish. There was little surprise when BMC overturned Trek’s lead at both the intermediate and finish line time checks. The American squad may have been lacking some of their time trial depth, but with Rohan Dennis, Tejay van Garderen, and the reliability of Samuel Sanchez, Ben Hermans and Brent Bookwalter, they were always going to be the team to beat. They cut through technical sections with ease as Marco Pinotti – an expert at measuring efforts on such a course – orchestrated their ride. The red and black train looked impressive, even if they started to come apart briefly towards the end. They finished with their full contingent of eight riders, although several teams were still to finish. Team Sky, looking to put a shambolic team time trial at Tirreno Adriatico behind them, welcomed Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and Mikel Landa into the fold.
This was the first time that all three had raced together since last year’s Tour de France, with the team publicly backing the Welshman to lead their efforts here in Spain.
That looked like a justified call when Landa was unceremoniously dropped during the second half of the race. Until that moment, Team Sky were one second ahead of Trek at the intermediate but 23 seconds down on the rampaging BMC. The second half of the course was a battle of attrition, experience and, most importantly, will. Valverde, bouncing back from an illness that ruled him out of Paris-Nice, took a number of long turns on the front with Jonathan Castroviejo reminding everyone of his all-round class against the clock. Coming into the final twists and turns it looked as though BMC would hold on take a narrow victory, but the Spanish WorldTour team would not be denied. However, talk of unrest resulting from Movistar’s ride began to surface soon after the finish. BMC Racing riders posted video footage of the Spanish team breaking UCI rules as Rojas was caught pushing Nelson Oliveira and Andrei Amador, on a climb midway through the race. Oliveira and Amador were also penalised one and two minutes, respectively, but Valverde escaped punishment despite UCI rules indicating that all riders on the team should have faced a one-minute penalty. The overall picture With such a long test against the clock coming so soon in the race, time gaps were always going to open up in the GC standings. Today’s result has both opened up and closed off opportunities for several teams and riders. The win puts Movistar in control, and they will be expected to set the pace on a difficult stage 3. The margin Valverde has over BMC’s van Garderen and Dennis will be one of the most intriguing elements in the race. Dennis finished second in Tirreno, while van Garderen is struggling for form. Although the American is at this stage heading to the Giro as the captain of BMC, with Dennis as an understudy, another unflattering result could alter BMC’s mind. Both Thomas and Froome will rue the time conceded to Valverde, but having put time into Contador and a number of other GC contenders, they will see today’s stage as mixed result.

Davide Cimolai (FdJ) wins first stage one of Volta a Catalunya, Spain Road.

Davide Cimolai (FDJ) claimed a hard-fought sprint victory on the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya.

 The 27-year-old topped Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) in the bunch sprint, with Kristian Sbaragli third.
 It's the second consecutive year that Cimolai has claimed a stage win in the race, but where as last year's victory came on stage 6, this year he earned the race's first leader's jersey.

 How it unfolded On a day with six major climbs, one might have expected the back-to-back category 1 ascents of Alt El Muntanya and Coll Formic to play bigger roles, but there were

no major attacks from the climbers as teams chose to save their firepower for the lengthy stage 2 team time trial. Instead, the peloton simply clicked off a steady tempo to reel in the early escapees - Magno Prado Nazaret and Murilo Affonso (Brasil), Antonio Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac). The quartet had 40 seconds as they crested the first climb, and before the descent three riders jumped across - Jetse Bol (Manzana Postobon), Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale) and Brendan Canty joining his teammate Rolland at the head of the race Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) also tried to get across, but couldn't quite make it. Domont and Bol left the rest behind on the 28km descent, and with 41km to go the pair had built up a lead of more than a minute on the chasing peloton. But that advantage was chipped away easily by the bunch, who reached the base of the final climb, the Alt de Collsacreu with 25km to go, with the pair of escapees in their sight. The Collsacreu did very little to disrupt the efforts of the sprinters' teams, with Lotto Soudal, Cofidis, and Katusha controlling the pace.
 The peloton rode together at a high pace until Cyril Gautier (AG2R La Mondiale) had a go with just over 5km to go, but it was a long way to go alone, and he was swept up on an incline with 3km to go. Peter Kennaugh attacked a descent soon after, tucking low on his top tube, but the voracious pace of the sprint teams put an end to his antics just inside the flamme rouge. Cofidis led into the sprint, setting up Nacer Bouhanni perfectly, but he was put in front just a touch too soon, and Cimolai caught and narrowly bested the fading Frenchman.

Top ten first day result