After a few disappointing months, Edward Theuns proved that he is ready to end his time with Topsport Vlaanderen on a high when he powered to a win on stage 3 of the Tour de l’Eurometropole. In a hugely confusing bunch sprint, he sped down the right-hand side of the road and managed to hold off the Cofidis pair of Michael van Staeyen and Louis Verhelst to take the win. Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r) retained the lead on the eve of the final stage.

The 2015 season has been a big breakthrough for Edward Theuns who was one of the big revelations of the spring season. In addition to a stage win in the 4 Days of Dunkirk and a win in the Ronde van Drenthe, he achieved numerous top 10 results and starred in the cobbled classics.

It was only a matter of time before he would be picked up by a WorldTour team and it was no surprise that Trek could announce the signing of the talented Belgian. However, they must have started to worry slightly as he has been far from his best level in the second half of the year.

Now it seems that he is on track to end the season well after he won today’s third stage of the Tour de l’Eurometropole in a hectic and confusing bunch sprint. After his fourth place finish yesterday, he benefited from the fact that no one managed to control the sprint before he powered down the finishing straight to take his third win of the season and mark himself out as an outsider for Paris-Tours.

"After my excellent start to the season, I was a little hungry. I'm happy to win again at the end of the season. It's good," he told Directvelo. "It was a rather special stage today as no managed to escape. After the feeding zone, a group was able to get clear. I spent most of the time hiding in the wheels. I was able to save energy. Tomorrow, I hope for a rendezvous in Tournai. 

"It was a rather special stage," he told Het Nieuwsblad. "From the start, several riders wanted to join the break, but nobody succeeded. The peloton never slowed down. Only after the feeding zone we got a break and also those riders were always kept in sight. I could stay in the wheels of the rest. As a result, I spent very little energy.

"It was clear that this stage would end in a mass sprint. On Friday I was well  in the streets of Poperinge and finished fourth there. Now I was really very well positioned and I could get my third win of the season. TomorrowI expect a bunch sprint again. In it I want to go for a fourth season win."