Troels Vinther represented CULT Energy Pro Cycling in this morning’s breakaway with eleven other riders during the first and only 110 kilometer short third stage of Three Days at Panne. However, the sprinter teams eagerly wanted to bring the escapees back and once again the stage was concluded in a bunch sprint photo finish.

Going under the ten kilometer banner, the breakaway riders started attacking each other while the pack was getting as close as 30 seconds away from the them. On the technical circuit in De Panne, the break prolonged their time in the limelight but Katusha and Sky had the situation under control. With 2 kilometers to go, it was all over and on the finish line, the race leader Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) opened a long sprint and the German champion André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) was only 0.0003 seconds away from interrupting Kristoff’s hat-trick.

Kristoff retained his overall lead as well. 

This afternoon, the CULT Energy riders and the rest of the peloton concluded the race with section b of stage 3 – a 14 kilometer long individual time trial.

19 year-old CULT Energy Pro Cycling rider Mads Pedersen surprised everyone by crossing the finish line in third place in this afternoon’s individual time trial over 14 kilometers. As the afternoon went by and the experienced TT specialists took on their race against the clock, the young Pedersen steadily dropped down the ranks.

No one was stronger than the time trial World Champion Bradley Wiggins (Sky) who destroyed all competition and conquered the stage win. But Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) defended the overall lead and put the trophy in the pocket for good after three stage wins.

DS André Steensen comments on the 3B time trial to the Cult Energy website:

“Taking Mads’ young age into consideration, I reckon that he pulled a good result in today’s time trial. He still had solid power in the legs after three demanding days of racing and I couldn’t have asked for more. This morning, Troels was in the breakaway and they managed to stay out there until three kilometers to go. In the pack, Mortensen, Reihs and Russell put Mads in a splendid position right behind Katusha but in the final corner, they lost ground. Naturally, we need more experience to perform better in these kind of finals but we’re getting stronger and better all the time.”