Michal Kwiatkowski claimed victory and an early race lead as the 3 Days of West Flanders got under way.
Pole claims leader's jersey
Michal Kwiatkowski claimed victory and an early race lead as the 3 Days of West Flanders got under way.
The young Pole set a time of eight minutes flat on the six-kilometre prologue drag along the coast in Middelkerke to pull on the race leader's jersey.
Kwiatkowski led home Omega Pharma-Quickstep team-mate Julien Vermote by a margin of four seconds as the Belgian squad continued their dream start to the season.
Robert Wagner (RadioShack-Nissan) rounded out the podium while his team-mate - pre-stage favourite and defending champion Jesse Sergent – could only manage fifth on the day.
Michael Rogers was the first Team Sky rider home in eighth, the Australian making his return to racing after a break following Tour Down Under and clocked a time of eight minutes and 13 seconds
With the top 20 riders all sitting within 22 seconds of the lead the overall standings are congested heading into two tough days on the unforgiving Flandrian roads.
Hard effort
One of the early riders out on course, Alex Dowsett (Team Sky) held the lead for a long period after putting in a strong time of 8:19 over the out-and-back course.
The British national time trial champion was finally knocked off his perch by Wagner before finishing in an eventual 12th place.
Just like Dowsett, Kwiatkowski had to endure a nervous wait for the final runners to finish, but with no rider able to stretch and clock a sub-eight minute time the 21-year-old was able to claim the first win of his career.
The race continues on Saturday with a 181.5km test from Brugge to Bellegem.
