Jonas Vangenechten was given the nod to go for the sprint in yesterday's Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen after defending champion Jens Debusschere didn't feel at 100%. Having finished third behind Arnaud Demare and Luka Mezgec, the in-form Belgian found it hard to be too disappointed.

With a stage win the Tour de Pologne and the victory in the GP Fourmies, Jonas Vangenechten has had an outstanding second half of the season. Yesterday he was again in the mix when he finished third in the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen.

"When I see the guys in front of me, I can not be disappointed," he said. "Arnaud did a great sprint, so there is nothing to regret. But when I see the work the team did in the final kilometers, I have to be disappointed not to win. 

"It was a difficult finale. I found myself in the wind two or three times. It was really a fight between the trains. Furthermore, there was a big headwind at the end. It was not easy to handle the sprint. I maybe started a little bit too early, but I do not think the outcome would have been different.

"With André [Greipel] in the break, we were really comfortable. But the break was caught very late and it was not easy to organize the train. I think we coped well with that.

"Jens Debusschere and Kris Boeckmans led me perfectly out. Jens was feeling a little worse so we decided to ride for me. They did an awesome job there.

"I will do Impanis tomorrow and then Lichtervelde, Eurométropole Tour and Binche Binche-Chimay . We will try to continue the winning streak, but there are a lot of guys that are going well in the team and it does not cause me any problem if I have to work for them."

"I was not that great today," Debusschere said. "André was in the front, it was either Jonas or me for the sprint. With four laps to go, we decided to stake everything on Jonas because he felt good. It's a shame he's third. It's not bad, but he was led out well by Boeckmans and me. We had the advantage of trying.

"Yes, we lost. To handle the situation with André in the front was not ideal for us but we tried with Jonas and in the end we lost. We can't change that.

"Tomorrow I will not do Impanis. Instead, I will do Lichtervelde Eurometropole Tour, Binche Binche-Chimay, Paris-Tours and Putte-Kappellen."